IRLF 


32    SEE 


GIFT  OF 


PAP  E  R  S 


FROM   THE 


NOTES  OF  AN  ENGINEER 


BY 


FKEDEKICK  GLEASON  COKJNING,  M.E. 

DIPLOMIST    ROYAL    MINING    ACADEMY,    FREIBERG,    SAXONY.      MEMBER    AMERICAN 
INSTITUTE  OF   MINING   ENGINEERS,    ETC. 


NEW  YORK 

SCIENTIFIC    PUBLISHING    COMPANY 
27   PARK   PLACE 

1889 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

I. — THE  PANAMA  CANAL,     .        .       ...        .        .       .5 

II. — THE  LAKE  OF  TITICACA,  BOLIVIA,  S.  A.,  .        .        .        .22 

III. — A  SKETCH  OF  THE  BOLIVIAN  REPUBLIC,  SOUTH  AMERICA,    31 
IV. — THE  GOLD  MINES  OF  THE  TIPUANI  RIVER,  BOLIVIA,  S.  A.,  .    49 

V. — THE  GOLD  QUARTZ  MINES  OF  GRASS  VALLEY,  NEVADA 

COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA,   . 64 

VI. — THE  MILL  OF  THE  NORTH  STAR  GOLD  MINE,   GRASS 

VALLEY,  CALIFORNIA, .77 

VII. — THE  CONCENTRATION  OF  ORES — THE  CORNING  CONCEN- 
TRATOR,   85 

VIII. — UNPROFESSIONAL    OFFICE     AND     LABORATORY     MINING 

REPORTS, 92 

IX.— THE  CHOICE  AND  LEGITIMATE  OPERATION  OF  MINES,      .    95 


451637 


I. 

THE  PANAMA   CANAL.* 

REVIEW  OF  THE   FRENCH    COMPANY,  THE  WORK  ACCOMPLISHED,  AND 
FUTURE    PROSPECTS    OF    THIS    GIGANTIC    UNDERTAKING. 

THE  names  of  De  Lesseps,  Suez,  and  Panama,  whatever  may 
prove  to  be  the  issue  of  the  latter  venture,  will  always  remain 
great  among  the  chapters  in  the  progress  of  civilization.  To 
review  the  career  of  F.  De  Lesseps  and  fully  appreciate  the  vast- 
ness  of  his  projects  is  to  become  forcibly  impressed  with  the 
man's  extraordinary  genius  as  the  projector  of  startling  under- 
takings and  his  unsurpassed  ability  as  a  successful  promoter.  A 
broad  view  of  his  achievements  inspires  a  degree  of  admiration 
for  this  magnetic  character  only  comparable  with  the  intense  in- 
terest felt  throughout  civilized  countries  regarding  the  success 
of  his  globe-remodeling  projects  and  their  important  bearing  on 
the  interests  of  commerce  and  navigation.  More  minutely  scru- 
tinized, however — passing,  as  it  were,  from  the  poetic  to  the 
prosaic  side  of  this  talented  Frenchman's  schemes — we  meet 
with  some  disappointment  regarding  the  execution  in  detail  and 
probable  fate  of  his  last  great  engineering  and  speculative  un- 
dertaking at  Panama.  This  concern  for  the  future  of  the  canal 
and  for  the  prestige  so  long  enjoyed  by  De  Lesseps  grows  out 
of  an  impartial  attitude  toward  the  undertaking,  in  which  the 
present  condition  of  things  on  the  Isthmus  is  contrasted  with 
the  original  promises  officially  advertised  by  De  Lesseps  and  his 
company. 

In  the  United  States  it  has  become  almost  fashionable  to  cry 
down  the  Panama  enterprise,  and  ridicule  the  efforts  of  the 

*  From  The  Scientific  American,  New  York,  Oct.  8,  1887. 


6      PAPERS  FROM  THE  NOTES  OF  AN  ENGINEER. 

French  company.  It  is  hoped,  however,  that  this  small  contri- 
bution to  the  already  voluminous  literature  on  the  subject  will 
not  be  taken  as  a  blind  indorsement  of  the  many  malicious  ad- 
verse opinions  heretofore  rendered.  It  is  only  intended  to  be  a 
compilation  of  the  more  important  data  affecting  the  success  of 
the  canal  and  a  synopsis  of  the  company's  policy  and  manage- 
ment as  observed  on  the  isthmus  and  in  Paris. 

In  spite  of  the  indifference  shown  by  Americans  regarding  the 
success  of  this  special  company,  the  interoceanic  canal  problem 
has  nevertheless  long  been  a  subject  of  deep  interest  in  the 
United  States.  For,  although  we  have  not  as  yet,  to  any  great 
extent,  actively  participated  in  the  construction  of  a  canal,  yet  it 
is  still  fresh  in  the  minds  of  the  people  that  our  government  at 
one  time  expended  a  very  considerable  sum  of  money  in  recon- 
naissance surveys  and  preliminary  work  with  a  view  to  deter- 
mining from  an  engineering,  geographical,  and  economical  point 
of  view  the  most  feasible  route  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific. 
And  when  subsequently  it  appeared,  as  the  result  of  careful  esti- 
mates based  on  these  accumulated  data,  that  a  sufficient  amount 
of  shipping  could  be  relied  upon  to  insure  a  volume  of  business 
for  a  canal  through  Central  America  to  even  justify  an  invest- 
ment of  at  least  double  the  amount  of  the  cost  of  the  Nicaragua 
route,  the  great  attractions  of  a  properly  constructed  canal  to 
connect  the  two  oceans  by  the  most  feasible  line  became  mani- 
fest. At  the  same  time  our  carefully  and  ably  conducted  inves- 
tigations pointed  strongly  to  the  Nicaragua  route  as  practically 
in  all  respects  the  preferable  one.  In  the  face  of  all  this  it  is 
not  surprising  that  the  French  company's  choice  of  the  Panama 
line  should  have  incited  a  certain  degree  of  adverse  criticism 
and  prophecies  of  disaster  on  the  part  of  the  Americans  of  the 
North.  And  now  after  quietly  and  patiently  watching  for  six 
years  the  company's  progress  and  prospects  on  the  isthmus,  the 
time  is  at  hand  when  the  nations  pecuniarily  and  otherwise  in- 
terested in  the  operations  of  the  "  Compagnie  Universelle  du 
Canal  Interoeeanique  "  are  beginning  to  realize  the  correctness 
of  the  verdict  of  the  United  States  scientists  on  the  natural  ob- 
stacles to  the  Panama  route.  At  the  same  time  it  is  becoming 
apparent  that  our  exploratory  engineering  work,  which  showed 
the  impracticability  of  the  Colon-Panama  line,  was  more  thor- 


THE  PANAMA   CANAL.  7 

oughly  and  intelligently  executed,  and  the  results  more  reliably 
made  known  to  the  public,  than  were  the  preliminary  surveys 
and  estimates  of  other  countries. 

At  the  so-called  "  International  Congress,"  held  in  Paris  in 
1879,  nominally  for  the  purpose  of  discussing  and  deciding  upon 
the  best  of  the  five  projected  canal  routes  submitted  at  that 
time,  the  Nicaragua  route,  after  some  comparatively  superficial 
comment,  was,  with  other  plans,  hastily  set  aside  ;  and  thereupon, 
in  conformity  with  the  wishes  of  Mr.  De  Lesseps,  who  substan- 
tially controlled  the  whole  convention  and  framed  its  resolu- 
tions, it  was  finally  decided  :  "  That  the  cutting  of  an  inter- 
oceanic  canal  at  sea  level  was  feasible  ;  and  that  in  order  to 
secure  the  natural  conditions  essential  to  an  undertaking  of  this 
character,  it  would  be  necessary  to  adopt  the  route  from  the 
Gulf  of  Limon  to  the  Bay  of  Panama."  More  particular  reasons 
for  the  choice  of  this  line  were  stated  on  this  occasion  to  be 
"  the  length  of  45  miles,"  that  would  require  but  "  one  day  for 
the  passage."  Following  along  in  this  impulsive,  one-man  pol- 
icy, that  may  eventually  culminate  in  serious  reverses  and  disap- 
pointments to  the  De  Lesseps  following,  as  far  as  the  dividend 
rate  on  the  company's  ultimate  capital  is  concerned,  came  a  long 
series  of  erratic  announcements  in  the  u  Bulletin  Interoceanique 
de  Panama,"  the  official  organ  of  the  company.  Thus  in  the 
early  "  circulates "  and  "bulletins"  issued  the  management 
constantly  proclaimed  its  ability  to  cut  and  complete  the  entire 
canal  for  600  million  frs.,  including  expenses  of  every  descrip- 
tion and  all  fixed  interest  charges.  For  example,  in  an  address 
by  Mr.  F.  De  Lesseps  at  the  general  meeting  in  January,  1881, 
we  find,  in  his  opinion,  "  the  sum  of  600  millions  (frs.)  will  be 
required  to  open  the  Panama  Canal  to  all  classes  of  navigation." 
And  in  a  February  bulletin,  1884,  by  the  same  recognized  au- 
thority, "  The  original  estimate  of  the  cost  of  the  canal,  namely, 
1  milliard  70  millions  (1,070,000,000  frs.),  has  been  reduced  to 
850  millions  ;  and  upon  the  late  arrival  of  contractors  at  Panama, 
the  total  cost  has  been  still  further  reduced  to  600  millions. 
The  one  hundred  million  cubic  meters  to  be  excavated  will  cost 
500  millions,  to  which  100  millions  are  added  for  the  general 
expense  account"  About  the  same  period  a  notice  of  similar 
import  was  circulated  among  the  shareholders,  by  a  large  firm, 


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THE  PANAMA   CANAL.  9 

to  whom  had  been  assigned  a  considerable  portion  of  the  work, 
stating  and  indorsing  that :  "  Mr.  De  Lesseps  announces  that 
eight  years  will  be  sufficient  for  the  completion  of  the  work,  and 
that  the  estimate  of  512  millions  is  considerably  in  excess  of  the 
real  cost."  Following  these  concise,  business-like,  official  an- 
nouncements, there  appeared,  about  one  year  and  a  half  later,  in 
the  bulletin  of  August,  1885,  a  report  of  the  general  meeting  held 
in  July,  1885,  with  the  following  extraordinary  piece  of  incon- 
gruous news :  "  Contracts  having  been  entered  into  providing 
for  the  completion  of  the  canal  to  the  bottom,  we  are  now  ena- 
bled to  compute  the  further  cost  of  finishing  the  same  at  480 
millions  (frs.).  This  sum,  added  to  the  amount  already  spent, 
namely,  220  millions,  gives  700  millions  as  the  total  cost  of  the 
canal  on  the  opening  day.  To  this  figure  must  be  added  the 
expenses  of  administration  and  interest  charges,  to  make  up  the 
total  estimate  of  1  milliard  and  70  millions  (frs.)." 

The  continued  outpouring  of  dispatches  of  this  character, 
proving  the  company's  calculations  and  official  reports  to  be  in- 
excusably inaccurate,  could  not  but  give  rise  to  much  unfavora- 
ble criticism  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  which  the  French 
attribute  to  jealousy.  Already  about  900  millions  (frs.)  have 
been  sunk  (realized  from  the  marketing  of  various  classes  of 
securities  whose  aggregate  face  value  is  almost  doubly  as  great), 
and,  it  may  be  said,  without  accomplishing  much  more  than 
fairly  starting  the  great  work,  now  at  the  best  not  over  one- 
fourth  completed.  Up  to  the  end  of  December,  1885,  the  so- 
called  general  expense  account  ^  above  referred  to,  amounted  to 
something  like  350,000,000  (frs.),  and  at  this  date  cannot  be  far 
from  the  alarming  sum  of  500,000,000  (frs.).  Furthermore,  it 
is  evident  that  should  the  company's  operations  continue  for  six 
or  eight  years  longer,  which  would  seem  to  be  the  least  time  re- 
quired to  finish  the  canal,  these  general  expenses  will  swell  to  a 
sum  closely  approximating  1  milliard  (1,000,000,000  frs.)  ;  be- 
cause already  they  have  reached  the  enormous  sum  of  over  80 
millions  (frs.)  annually  and  must  continue  to  increase  propor- 
tionately with  the  increase  in  the  loan  account,  the  limit  of  which 
is  not  yet  in  sight. 

Some  of  the  round  sums  of  money  which  contribute  yearly  to 
swell  this  "general  expense  account"  are  interesting  in  the  sig- 


10     PAPERS  FROM  THE  NOTES  OF  AN  ENGINEER. 

nificance  they  bear  to  the  ultimate  outcome  of  this  system  of 
financiering  in  the  event  of  either  a  suspension  of  operations  or 
a  continuance  of  the  actual  work  of  construction  beyond  a  certain 
limited  number  of  years.  They  have  been  given  to  the  public 
at  various  intervals  through  bulletins  and  annual  reports,  approx- 
imately as  follows : 

Interest  on  250,000  bonds  (5  per  cent.) 6,235,000  frs. 

Interest  on  477,387  bonds  (4  per  cent.) 9,547,740  frs. 

Interest  on  600,000  shares  of  stock  (6  per  cent.) 18,000,000  frs. 

Interest  on  600,000  bonds  (3  per  cent.) 9,000,000  frs. 

Interest  on  458,302  bonds  (6  per  cent.) 13,764,000  frs. 

Annual  cost  for  services  and  miscellaneous  acts 9,000,000  frs. 

Central  administ ration 1,500,000  frs. 

Minimum  local  administration,  Panama,  (1,100  salaried 

employes  in  June,  1886) 10,000,000  frs. 

For  inspectors,  engineers,  opening  new  roads,  repairs, 

hospitals,  etc 3,000,000  frs. 


General  expense  account 80,046,740  frs. 

After  the  next  loan  or  two  shall  have  been  placed,  it  is  quite 
probable  that  the  above  general  expenses  will  run  closely  to  100 
millions  yearly.  Added  to  this  account,  it  must  be  remembered, 
are  the  actual  expenses  of  the  machinery  and  the  canal  work 
proper — the  excavations  now  under  contract — which  latter,  to- 
gether with  the  general  expense  account,  make  up  the  entire 
yearly  outlay. 

The  total  material  to  be  removed  in  cutting  the  canal  appeared 
in  July,  1885,  to  be  finally  estimated  at  128,000,000  cubic  meters. 
By  persons  more  familiar  with  the  topography  and  surveys  of 
the  line  than  would  be  possible  for  one  who  has  only  paid  four 
visits  to  the  isthmus,  it  is  claimed  that  this  volume  of  128  mill- 
ions of  cubic  meters  is  a  very  considerable  underestimate  ;  and 
that  in  this  figure,  as  in  most  others,  a  serious  increase  will 
eventually  be  met  with.  But  however  this  may  prove,  the  sad 
fact  remains  that,  up  to  May  1,  1887,  there  had  been  excavated 
only  a  little  over  36,000,000  cubic  meters  of  the  grand  total 
Yet  in  the  face  of  all  these  hard  facts,  which  would  appear  to 
unavoidably  retard  the  progress  of  the  work,  that  sooner  or  later 
must  come  to  the  surface,  it  would  appear  that  the  company's 
policy  has  been  to  foster  self-deception  regarding  the  real  state 
of  affairs  on  the  isthmus.  In  this  connection  we  find  in  a  Sep- 
tember bulletin,  1886  :  "  The  work  done  per  man  per  day  now 


THE   PANAMA   CANAL.  11 

exceeds  5  cubic  meters."  Then  again,  in  a  January  bulletin, 
1887  :  "  The  army  of  12,000  to  15,000  laborers  on  the  isthmus 
has  the  co-operation  of  machines  representing  an  effective  power 
equivalent  to  nearly  600,000  men." 

It  is  surprising,  in  view  of  the  transparency  of  these  absurdly 
exaggerated  dispatches,  that  their  object  of  sustaining  the  com- 
pany's credit  should  have  been  at  all  attained.  The  unsuspect- 
ing shareholder  naturally  concludes  from  such  glowing  accounts 
that  the  canal  work  is  being  vigorously  pushed  forward  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  original  assurances  of  the  promoters,  and 
quietly  subscribes  to  new  loans  as  fast  as  the  opportunities  are 
presented.  His  enthusiasm  is  too  great  and  his  mathematics  too 
limited  to  reflect  that,  with  "  six  hundred  thousand  men  "  hand- 
ling "  five  cubic  meters  per  man  per  day,"  the  entire  canal  could 
be  cut  in  less  than  two  months.  Again,  the  return  to  Paris  of 
the  Messrs.  De  Lesseps  from  Panama  was  the  signal  for  some 
further  authoritative  utterances  :  and  about  this  time  we  find  an 
extract  from  one  of  Mr.  De  Lesseps'  announcements  published 
in  the  bulletins  as  follows  : 

u  After  having  exhaustively  studied  all  technical  questions 
and  examined  every  foot  of  ground  along  the  line,  I  consider  it 
within  the  bounds  of  truth  to  say  that  in  1887  the  scale  of  the 
work  as  well  as  the  amount  accomplished  will  be  three  times  as 
great  (that  is,  more  than  3,000,000  cubic  meters  per  month)." 
As  near  as  can  be  ascertained,  however,  this  year's  records  do 
not  show  an  average  of  much  over  1,000,000  cubic  meters  per 
month. 

The  rapidity  of  the  work,  generally  speaking,  is  regulated  by 
the  labor  supply  and  the  ability  of  the  local  management,  or  the 
contractors,  to  gradually  increase  the  working  force,  or  at  any 
rate  to  keep  the  same  constant  when  once  an  adequate  number 
of  men  has  been  secured.  But  their  power  to  do  this  is  in  turn 
almost  entirely  dependent  upon  the  ups  and  downs,  the  periods 
of  relative  salubrity  and  insalubrity,  of  the  climate.  The  latter, 
without  doubt,  if  not  the  greatest,  is  one  of  the  most  serious 
factors  militating  against  the  satisfactory,  uniform  progress  of 
the  work.  With  reference  to  this  subject,  about  two  years  ago 
Mr.  De  Lesseps,  with  a  promoter's  enthusiasm,  was  published 
in  the  bulletin  as  stating  :  "  The  mortality  is  lower  than  in  any 


12     PAPERS  FROM  THE  NOTES  OF  AN  ENGINEER. 

other  excavations,  not  even  excepting  Europe."  Notwithstand- 
ing, however,  the  opinion  of  one  in  a  position  to  be  familiar 
with  the  local  climatic  conditions,  the  incontestable  fact  remains 
that  the  canal  happens  to  follow  along  one  of  the  most  unhealthy 
zones  known  on  the  planet,  as  proved  by  all  statistics,  personal 
observation,  and  in  fact  by  the  actual  experiences  of  the  com- 
pany. Indeed,  it  is  fully  established  that  one  of  the  first  and 
greatest  disappointments  in  the  company's  original  calculations 
was  the  rapid  doubling  of  the  price  of  labor  in  consequence  of 
the  extra  risks  involved  in  living  on  the  isthmus,  particularly 
adjacent  to  the  line  workings  ;  and  now  it  has  become  so  difficult 
to  draw  labor  from  Jamaica  even  at  the  advanced  prices  that  it 
seems  almost  impossible  to  secure  the  adequate  force  for  the 
rapid  advancement  of  the  work.  In  the  rainy  season  the  inter- 
ruptions are  incessant,  while  night  work  is  hardly  entertained. 
This  climatic  feature  has  proved  a  drawback  to  the  Panama 
route,  as  far  as  the  rapidity  and  cost  of  construction  are  con- 
cerned, little  calculated  upon  originally  ;  but  already  it  has  en- 
tered into  the  account,  directly  and  indirectly,  to  the  extent  of 
many  millions  of  pounds  sterling. 

This  same  fatal  peculiarity  of  the  narrow  isthmus  section  in 
Colombia  renders  it  difficult  to  see  wherein  lies  the  immense 
value  of  the  company's  land  grant,  already  amounting  to  500,000 
hectares,  gratuitously  secured  from  the  Colombian  government 
in  pursuance  of  a  provision  in  the  aot  of  concession.  Here 
again,  in  a  May  bulletin  of  this  year,  the  vice-president,  Mr. 
Charles.  De  Lesseps,  refers  discreetly  to  the  prospective  value  of 
the  land,  stating :  u  In  addition  to  the;  revenue  accruing  from 
traffic,  there  are  five  hundred  thousand  hectares  of  land  gratui- 
tously granted  by  the  Colombian  government.  How  much  these 
lands  are  worth  I  cannot  determine ;  but  what  I  do  know  is, 
that  the  lands  at  Port  Said  and  Suez  are  worth  from  100  to  120 
frs.  per  meter."  The  Suez  valuation  here  hinted  at,  applied  to 
the  Panama  land  grant,  would  lend  a  value  to  the  latter  of  some 
600,000,000,000  (600  milliard  frs.).  Even  were  this  absurd 
comparison  at  all  permissible,  it  would  not  indicate  much  of  an 
asset,  for  it  is  plainly  set  forth  in  the  Suez  reports  that  the  lands 
sold  at  Suez  and  Port  Said  in  1885  and  1886  collectively  real- 
ized only  about  670,000  frs.  ($134,000). 


THE  PANAMA   CANAL.  13 

But  the  threatening  complications  of  the  Panama  company  do 
not  end  with  a  diminution  in  the  value  of  its  land  assets.  Of 
far  greater  gravity  are  the  old  difficulties  involved  in  the  com- 
plicated Chagres  River  diversions,  the  Garriboa  regulating  dam, 
and  the  great  Culebra  mountain  cut.  On  account  of  the  numer- 
ous windings  of  the  erratic  Chagres  across  the  path  of  the  canal, 
as  also  owing  to  the  heavy  double  drainage  of  the  country  on 
either  side  toward  the  river  (the  latter  following  with  the  canal 
practically  the  same  synclinal  axis),  it  has  become  necessary  to 
provide  two  separate  diversions  for  the  respective  river  bends, 
together  with  the  corresponding  tributaries  on  either  side  of  the 
canal.  By  this  means  it  is  expected  to  prevent  the  Chagres 
from  running  along  the  canal  bed  for  long  distances  or  from 
emptying  into  and  repeatedly  crossing  the  same  back  and  forth. 
Thus  in  numerous  places  the  work  amounts  to  almost  as  much  as 
three  parallel  canals,  doubling,  if  not  trebling,  the  cost  of  con- 
struction ;  and  with  all  the  occasional  disturbances  incident  to 
the  sudden  freshets  and  rises  so  characteristic  of  this  tropical 
region  will  probably  not  be  fully  eliminated. 

Probably  no  division  of  this  immense  work  of  altering  and 
regulating  the  natural  drainage  system  of  the  isthmus  remained 
longer  obscured  in  uncertainty  than  the  Gatnboa  dam,  its  feasi- 
bility, cost,  and  exact  requirements.  As  early  as  November, 
1883,  it  was  announced  through  the  bulletins  in  Paris  that  "  the 
dam  was  very  simple,  and  would  cost  eight  millions."  But  in 
1886,  after  some  three  years  of  pondering  over  its  simplicity, 
less  favorable  reports  began  to  appear ;  and,  in  a  May  bulletin 
of  that  year,  the  dam  was  announced  to  be  "  the  greatest  tech- 
nical difficulty  yet  encountered."  About  this  time,  according  to 
the  company's  annals,  the  estimates  of  the  cost  of  this  piece  of 
work  jumped  from  eight  to  forty,  and  then  to  one  hundred  mill- 
ions (frs.).  But  now  the  plan  is  to  control  the  drainage  by  the 
more  extended  system  of  Chagres  diversions  in  process  of  exca- 
vation, which  will  materially  reduce  the  enormous  scale  and  cost 
of  the  dam  as  originally  designed.  Hence  this  piece  of  work 
and  the  Culebra  cut  are  now  looked  upon  as  the  most  serious 
and  costly  divisions  of  the  canal.  With  reference  to  the  latter, 
at  the  general  meeting  in  August,  1885,  the  Culebra  mountain 
was  qualified  as  "  the  culminating  point  and  most  knotty  prob- 


THE  PANAMA   CANAL.  15 

lem."  But  it  was  officially  reported  that  notwithstanding  the 
cut  involved  the  removal  of  twenty-five  millions  of  cubic  meters, 
the  contractors  were  "  tinder  agreement  to  finish  the  canal  through 
Culebra  mountain  and  open  the  same  to  all  navigation  by  July 
1,  1889."  The  February  bulletin  of  1887,  however,  showed 
plainly  that  of  the  twenty-five  millions  of  cubic  meters  in  the 
Culebra  not  much  over  two  millions  had  been  removed,  leaving, 
according  to  the  company's  own  statements,  something  like 
twenty-three  millions  yet  to  be  handled  in  this  job  alone. 

These  and  similar  exaggerations  directly  from  the  management 
have  inspired  the  frequent  accusations  of  bad  faith  that  have 
been  made  against  the  company.  But  notwithstanding  the  am- 
biguity and  unwarranted  favorable  character  of  many  official  re- 
ports, it  does  not  necessarily  follow  that  the  whole  enterprise  is 
a  "  barefaced  swindle,"  as  many  have  unjustly  claimed.  These 
sanguine  reports  are  rather  to  be  construed  as  an  effort  on  the 
part  of  the  directors  to  keep  lip  the  shareholders'  spirits  and  sus- 
tain the  company's  credit.  Having  once  embarked  in  so  formid- 
able an  undertaking,  and  subsequently  discovered  that  much 
larger  sums  of  money  would  be  required  than  originally  antici- 
pated, it  is  easily  understood  how  difficult  would  be  the  task  of 
protecting  the  shareholders'  interests  and  floating  new  loans  un- 
aided by  the  infusion  of  a  sanguine  tone  into  reports  from  the 
seat  of  operations. 

The  work  yet  to  be  done  may  be  roughly  classified  in  the  fol- 
lowing six  subdivisions: 

1.  The  canal  excavation  proper ;  a  minimum  of  say  90,000,000 
cubic  meters  (in  all  probability  greater),  including  something  like 
20,000,000  cubic  meters  falling  to  the  Culebra  section. 

2.  The  completion  of  the  Chagres  diversions. 

3.  The  Gamboa  dam  (on  reduced  scale). 

4.  The  deviation  of  the  Panama  Railroad. 

5.  The  turning  out  or  passing  basins. 

(5.  The  Atlantic  and  Pacific  approaches  and  the  canal  en- 
trances. 

7.  Numerous  miscellaneous  improvements,  of  secondary  mo- 
ment in  point  of  cost  as  compared  with  the  foregoing. 

The  magnitude  of  the  Panama  undertaking  is  so  great,  and 
the  unforeseen  contingencies  arising  to  complicate  and  retard 


16  PAPEES   FROM   THE   NOTES    OF  AN   ENGINEER. 

the  work  have  proven  so  numerous,  with  the  probability  in  the 
future  of  at  least  a  temporary  suspension  of  the  company's  oper- 
ations, owing  to  the  difficulty  in  placing  new  loans,  that  it  seems 
futile  to  presume  to  set  a  date  for  the  inauguration  of  the  canal. 
With  the  immense  mechanical  equipment  and  permanent  im- 
provements already  paid  for  and  in  operation  (valued  at  over 
147,000,000  frs.),  it  would  follow,  theoretically,  that  in  the  future 
the  work  must  progress  more  rapidly  than  in  the  first  years  of 
preparatory  work.  But  this  is  the  very  point  that  has  lately 
proved  so  delusive,  for  reasons  already  stated,  although  since  the 
completion  arid  working  of  the  plant  in  all  its  branches  along 
the  line  divisions,  the  work  of  excavation  has  become  noticeably 
accelerated,  though  far  from  what  had  been  expected. 

With  reference  to  the  guesswork  of  determining  the  number 
of  years  that  will  still  be  required  to  finish  the  work,  one  formula 
is  about  as  good  as  another  under  the  existing  circumstances. 
Perhaps  as  simple  and  safe  a  method  as  any  (assuming  the  com- 
pany's credit  to  hold  out)  is  to  reason  that  if  in  five  years  forty 
million  cubic  meters  have  been  dug,  it  will  take,  on  a  basis  of 
90,000,000  cubic  meters  remaining  to  be  cut, 

/  90, 000, 000  \ 

1 40,000,000  JXg  yearS'  l6SS  4°  Per  C6nt 

The  latter  for  the  possible  acceleration  and  increased  efficiency 
of  the  work  in  the  future  over  the  past  ratio.  This  would  give 
about  seven  years  more.  A  similar  reasoning  applied  to  ascer- 
tain the  probable  cost  of  the  work  gives  something  near  2,325,- 
000,000  frs.  as  the  total  minimum  cash  cost  and  3,750,000,000 
frs.  in  various  forms  of  securities  as  the  total  ultimate  capitaliza- 
tion (capital  stock  plus  bonded  debt)  of  the  concern.  Up  to  1887 
the  securities  issued  by  the  company  represented  a  nominal  value 
of  1,500,000,000  frs.  (1J  milliard),  that  were  marketed  at  rates 
which  brought  the  treasury  in  cash  about  930,000,000  frs. 

It  may  be  interesting  here  to  recall  the  company's  old  figures, 
that  show  how  far  short  were  the  most  liberal  calculations  as  to 
the  amount  of  capital  required. 

Canal  estimated  to  cost 1,070,000,000 

The  Panama  Railroad  purchase,  about _        94,000,000 

1,164,000,000 

Now  practically  spent 930,000,000 

Balance  margin Frs.  234,000,000 


THE  PANAMA   CANAL.  17 

Should  in  reality  at  the  expiration  of  five  years  (1892)  the 
canal  not  be  finished,  as  indicated  by  the  facts  here  stated,  seri- 
ous legal,  if  not  political,  complications  may  arise  with  the  Co- 
lombian government,  involving  the  forfeiture  of  the  company's 
grant  and  property.  The  act  granting  the  concession  provides 
that  "  The  canal  must  be  finished  and  thrown  open  for  public 
service  within  12  years  from  the  date  of  the  formation  of  the 
company  that  shall  have  as  object  the  construction  of  the  canal. 
But  the  executive  power  is  authorized  to  grant  an  extension  of 
six  years  in  case  of  exigencies  beyond  human  foresight." 

As  the  shares  of  capital  stock  were  issued  in  1880,  the  work 
should  be  finished  in  or  before  1892,  or,  with  the  extension,  if 
secured,  in  or  before  1898  at  the  outside.  After  either  of  these 
dates  the  Colombian  government  will  have  the  right  to  force  the 
law  and  declare  the  concession  and  the  canal  forfeited  without 
indemnity,  however  near  completion  the  work  may  be,  to  either 
finish  it  themselves  or  dispose  of  it  to  another  company.  In  the 
event  of  such  a  fatal  issue,  the  millions  lost  to  France  would  fall 
most  heavily  on  the  small  investors.  It  is  principally  this  thrifty 
class  of  the  great  French  public  that  has  with  unparalleled  loyal- 
ty backed  Mr.  De  Lesseps  in  his  Panama  scheme ;  and  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  conceive  how  deep-seated  and  long  of  duration  would  be 
the  depression  and  mistrust  in  new  undertakings  that  would  fol- 
low so  sad  a  failure  of  the  present  canal  company.  Should,  how- 
ever, at  such  a  crisis,  the  French  people  show  the  same  admirable 
perseverance  and  fortitude  that  have  characterized  their  liberal 
investments  thus  far,  notwithstanding  the  increase  in  the  amount 
of  money  required,  it  is  quite  possible,  and  sincerely  to  be  hoped, 
that,  after  a  scaling  down  of  the  capital  and  obligations  of  the 
old  company,  a  liberal  extension  of  time  may  be  secured,  and 
the  government  step  in  and  complete  the  work  of  connecting 
the  two  oceans  on  a  financial  basis  that  will  at  least  bring  a  fail- 
return  to  a  portion  of  the  nation's  good  money. 

This  consideration  suggests  the  all-important  question  of  the 
earning  power  or  incoming  value  of  the  canal  and  the  equivalent 
average  interest  on  the  invested  capital  that  may  be  looked  for 
when  the  work  shall  have  been  completed  and  the  highway 
opened  to  the  world.  The  point  of  momentous  interest  in 
financial  circles  is :  Will  the  traffic  be  sufficiently  large  at  the 
2 


18  PAPERS   FROM  THE  NOTES   OF  AN   ENGINEER. 

proposed  tariff  rate  (15  frs.  per  ton)  to  yield  a  revenue  that, 
after  deduction  of  the  expenses  of  maintenance  and  preserva- 
tion (presumably  unusually  heavy,  owing  to  the  peculiarities  of 
the  climate),  will  still  leave  a  fair  interest  on  the  total  nominal 
capital  ?  Officials  in  high  standing  at  Panama  speak  confidently 
of  an  annual  traffic  of  10,000,000  tons,  at  15  frs.  per  ton.  And 
this  appears  to  be  the  accepted  basis  for  the  argument  that  even 
if  the  capital  swells  eventually  to  4,000,000,000  frs.  (4  milliards), 
the  gross  income  will  amount  to  150,000,000  frs.  or  3|  per  cent, 
(without  allowance  for  running  expenses,  to  be  deducted  here- 
from).  The  more  exact  figures  are  embodied  in  one  of  the  re- 
cent official  reports  of  Senor  Nicolas  Tanco  Armero,  canal  com- 
missioner for  the  Colombian  government,  as  follows:  "The 
committee  on  statistics  of  the  International  Congress  calculates 
the  tonnage  that  will  pass  the  canal  in  1889  ( ! ! )  at  something 
less  than  7,000,000  tons.  But  in  my  later  calculations,  taking 
into  account  the  growth  of  commerce,  the  sum  total  comes  nearer 
9,000,000  than  7,000,000  tons,  as  is  evident  from  the  following 
abstract  from  the  official  statistical  table  published  in  England : 

From  Europe  to  American  Pacific  ports : 

England 1,426,852 

France 573,922 

Germany 360,000 

From  other  European  countries  to  American  Pacific 

ports 210,000 


Total Tons  2,570,774 

European  trade  with  Australia,  Oceanica,  Philip- 
pines, etc.,  that  will  pass  the  Panama  Canal 2,696,754 

United  States  trade,  excepting-  from  San  Francisco, 
with  the  same  places,  and  also  India,  China,  and 
Japan 1,619,440 

From  the  United  States,  Western  coast,  with  the 
Eastern  section,  for  Europe  and  Eastern  American 
States 1,500,000 

Actual  traffic  per  R.R.  from  Colon  to  Panama  and 
vice  versa 262,497 


Total  tonnage  ready  for  canal  first  year 8,649,465 

"  Moreover,  a  few  years  hence,  when  the  canal  shall  be  opened 
to  commerce,  the  available  annual  tonnage  will  have  reached 
12,000,000  to  15,000,000  tons."  ( ! ! )  The  bulletin  of  the  com- 


THE  PANAMA   CANAL.  19 

pany  attempts  to  give  more  accurate  figures  regarding  certain 
divisions  of  the  traffic  when  it  states  that  the  trade  from  Ant- 
werp that  would  have  passed  the  canal  in  1886,  had  the  same 
been  finished,  may  be  taken  at : 

Peru 46,635  tons. 

Bolivia 5,919      " 

Chili 42,046      " 

Australia 58,046      " 


152,646 

Furthermore,  in  the  same  year  the  trade  between  Antwerp 
and  the  United  States  rose  to  1,029,037  tons,  of  which  100,000  tons 
fell  to  American  Pacific  ports.  Hence  250,000  tons  are  a  more 
accurate  estimate  of  this  particular  line  ot  traffic,  included  in  the 
foregoing  large  and  more  general  estimate  of  Mr.  ~N.  T.  Armero. 

By  the  very  complicated  nature  of  the  subtile  changes  in  the 
relations  of  navigation  and  commerce  bound  to  be  called  into 
existence  by  the  shorter  lines  of  transportation  that  will  follow 
the  opening  of  the  canal,  the  element  of  conjecture  must  neces- 
sarily enter  largely  into  all  attempts  to  solve  mathematically 
this  all-important  traffic  problem.  But,  to  say  the  least  in  op- 
position to  the  canal  company's  figures,  it  is  difficult  to  conceive 
how  so  high  a  rate  as  15  frs.  per  ton  can  be  consistently  main- 
tained at  Panama,  if  the  canal  intends  to  monopolize  the  Aus- 
tralian trade,  while  at  Suez  the  average  rate  is  now  about  10  frs. 
per  ton.  Then,  too,  in  the  matter  of  tonnage,  everything  indi- 
cates that  a  considerable  reduction  in  the  foregoing  figures  will, 
in  all  probability,  be  met  with ;  for  it  should  be  remembered 
that  the  traffic  at  Suez  after  some  fifteen  years  grew  only  to 
5,767,656  tons  in  1886,  notwithstanding  all  brilliant  predictions 
of  a  much  larger  volume  of  business.  The  Suez  report  for  1886 
records  3,100  vessels,  5,767,656  tons,  from  which  the  receipts 
were  54,771,076  frs.  Added  to  this  are  receipts  from  passenger 
traffic  amounting  to  1,714,115  frs.,  and  revenue  from  miscellane- 
ous sources  of  313,093  frs.,  making  the  total  gross  income  56,- 
798,285  frs.  for  1886. 

The  economy  in  the  principal  lines  of  transportation  to  be 
afforded  by  the  canal,  expressed  in  "milles  marins"  of  1,852 
meters,  is  compiled  from  official  sources  as  follows : 


20 


PAPEES  FKOM  THE  NOTES  OF  AN  ENGINEER. 


Via  Cape 
Horn. 

Via  the 
Canal. 

Economy 
of 
Distance. 

London  to  San  Francisco  

13  795 

8  135 

5  660 

London  to  Honolulu  

13  915 

9  556 

4  359 

Liverpool  to  San  Francisco. 

13  678 

7  897 

5  781 

Le  Havre  to  San  Francisco 

13  627 

7  949 

5  678 

Bordeaux  to  Valparaiso  

8  675 

7  239 

1  436 

New  York  to  Valparaiso  

8,550 

4  574 

3  976 

New  York  to  Panama  

11,057 

1  966 

9  091 

New  York  to  Callao  

9  791 

2  333 

6  488 

New  York  to  Guayaquil  

10  441 

2  808 

7  633 

New  York  to  San  Francisco  

13  334 

5  257 

8  077 

A  not  over-conservative  weighing  of  the  available  statistics 
bearing  on  these  points,  leaving  out  of  account  a  probable  com- 
petition at  Nicaragua  in  the  near  future,  would  indicate  that  in 
any  event  the  Panama  traffic  at  the  start  will  fall  considerably 
below  present  anticipations;  while  the  15  f  rs.  rate  appears  too  exor- 
bitant to  command  the  anticipated  volume  of  business.  Is  it  not 
more  probable  that  the  traffic  will  be  about  5  million  tons  at  say 
10  frs.  a  ton,  making  50,000,000  frs.  as  the  revenue  for  the  first 
year ;  i.  e.,  about  1  £  per  cent,  on  the  probable  cost  of  the  canal  ? 

Notwithstanding  all  rumors  to  the  contrary,  the  work  of  ex- 
cavation is  being  prosecuted  at  more  points  and  with  a  larger 
working  force  than  has  generally  been  acknowledged  in  the 
United  States.  As  the  work  is  now  almost  entirely  under  con- 
tract, it  is  extremely  difficult  to  ascertain  accurately  the  number 
of  men  actually  employed.  The  management  claim  between 
15,000  and  18,000  men,  while  special  contractors  do  not  esti- 
mate less  than  10,000.  Under  the  efficient  management  of  Mr. 
Pioch  the  company  is  learning  at  last  to  conduct  its  operations 
with  economy ;  and  the  sums  of  money  now  spent  are  accom- 
plishing relatively  more  than  ever  before.  Setbacks  are  still 
caused  occasionally  by  land  slips,  particularly  in  the  rainy  sea- 
son. But  the  Culebra  mountain  is  not  "  traveling  into  the  ca- 
nal on  a  bed  of  quicksand."  N"or  is  the  bottom  of  the  canal, 
through  some  unheard-of  tropical  phenomenon,  rising  up  even 
with  the  old  surface  of  the  ground. 

The  conclusion  is,  therefore,  that  while  the  canal  can  be  built 
and  operated  with  sufficient  money,  as  far  as  overcoming  all  en- 
gineering difficulties  is  concerned,  yet  in  the  hands  of  the  pres- 


THE  PANAMA   CANAL.  21 

ent  corporation,  and  owing  mainly  to  the  impracticability  of  the 
route,  the  enterprise  has  become  handicapped  in  its  infancy  with 
an  ever-increasing  financial  load,  already  of  such  formidable  pro- 
portions as  to  threaten  its  credit  and  foreshadow  a  failure  from 
a  business  point  of  view. 

~Not  the  least  interesting  in  a  detailed  criticism  of  the  com- 
pany's internal  affairs  would  be  the  unraveling  of  the  contracts, 
sub-contracts,  promoters'  and  others'  commission  interests  that  have 
swallowed  up  the  large  sums  of  money  at  Panama  and  in  Paris.  But 
this  information  is,  of  course,  inaccessible  to  outsiders.  Indeed, 
much  of  the  complicated  network  of  letting,  subletting,  check- 
ing, and  settling  of  contracts  on  the  line  will  probably  never  be 
generally  known,  even  to  the  insiders.  It  is  said  that  according 
to  the  original  agreements,  the  promoters  are  to  be  allowed  15 
per  cent,  of  the  net  profits  of  the  canal.  For  the  convenience 
of  allotment  and  transactions  among  the  numerous  participants 
in  this  promoting  commission,  the  interest  was  split  into  9,000 
shares ;  and  these  shares  are  reported  to  have  sold  once  as  high 
as  10,000  frs.  apiece,  and  were  quoted  as  late  as  May,  1887,  at 
8,000  frs.  The  latter  price  values  the  entire  interest  at  27,000,000 
frs.,  while  at  10,000  frs.  a  share  (the  highest  price)  the  valuation 
was  90,000,000  frs. 

May  the  Panama  Canal,  contrary  to  all  present  indications, 
and  the  general  opinion  in  the  United  States,  turn  out  to  be  a 
happy  disappointment  and  an  unexpected  bonanza  to  the  French 
people.  May  its  credit  be  preserved,  may  it  be  finished  with 
less  money  and  in  less  time,  and  may  the  undertaking  bring  in 
greater  returns  to  the  original  investors,  than  now  appears  prob- 
able, thus  once  more  defeating  the  skeptical  and  scoring  an- 
other victory  at  Panama  for  De  Lesseps  only  second  to  his  well- 
earned  triumph  at  Suez.  No  ultimate  result  less  auspicious  will 
gratify  the  well-wishes  of  all  who  appreciate  the  vastness  of  the 
undertaking. 


II. 

THE  LAKE   OF  TITICACA,  SOUTH  AMEKICA.* 

A  journal  of  South  American  travel  would  hardly  be  com- 
plete without  a  chapter  on  the  famous  Lake  of  Titicaca,  which 
is  spread  out  over  widely  extended  table-lands,  at  a  great  eleva- 
tion in  the  heart  of  the  Andes. 

At  this  latitude,  the  boundary  line  between  Bolivia  and  Peru, 
the  Andes  are  divided  into  the  Eastern  and  the  Western  Cordil- 
lera, between  which  ranges  the  great  plateaux  are  expanded  to 
the  enormous  width  of  about  two  hundred  miles.  This  depres- 
sion, hanging  gracefully  between  the  two  Cordilleras,  has  an  oval 
shape,  and  with  an  average  width  of  one  hundred  miles,  its  area 
is  about  15,000  square  miles,  forming  one  of  the  most  remarka- 
ble terrestrial  basins  in  the  world.  It  appears  to  be  of  volcanic 
origin  ;  blocks  of  lava  are  scattered  along  the  shores  of  the  lake, 
while  igneous  rocks  are  noticeable  traversing  the  sedimentary 
strata. 

The  marvelous  picturesqueness  of  the  region,  together  with 
the  signs  of  cultivation,  furrowed  plains,  terraced  hill-sides,  and 
the  numerous  ancient  relics  of  an  historic  civilization  that  are 
met  with  around  the  lake,  upon  arrival  at  Ptino  on  its  western 
shore,  are  refreshing  in  contrast  with  the  dreary  railroad  journey 
of  over  two  hundred  miles  from  Arequipa,  Peru,  through  a  deso- 
late, silent,  barren,  ashy  waste,  where  the  tired  traveler  pants  for 
breath  in  chilly  altitudes,  rising  from  8,000  to  15,000  feet  above 
the  Pacific  Ocean,  in  full  view  of  the  gray  volcanic  domes  of 
Misti,  Urvinas,  and  Chichani. 

Titicaca  is  an  Ayrnara  word,  and  by  some  historians  is  trans- 
lated catrock ;  according  to  other  writers,  Titi  signifies  lead,  and 
caca  a  chain  of  mountains.  The  exact  elevation  of  the  lake 

*  From  The  Engineering  and  Mining  Journal,  New  York,  Oct.  9, 1886. 


THE  LAKE   OF  TITICACA,    SOUTH  AMERICA.  23 

above  the  Paciiic  Ocean  is  given  at  12,516  feet,  according  to 
railroad  surveys  made  from  Mollendo,  on  the  coast,  to  Funo. 
With  an  area  approximated  at  4,000  square  miles,  it  is  about 
100  miles  long,  and  averages  25  miles  in  width. 

During  the  rainy  season,  from  December  to  April,  the  lake 
rises  about  live  feet ;  and  during  the  dry  season,  when  it  sinks 
to  the  lowest  level,  the  principal  influx  of  water  comes  from  the 
ranges  of  perpetual  snow  on  the  eastern  shore.  Of  more  than 
twenty  different  streams  that  flow  into  the  basin,  the  main  feed- 
ers are  the  Azangaro,  the  Maravillas,  and  the  Eamis — the  latter 
rising  near  the  source  of  a  tributary  to  the  Ucayali. 

The  'Titicaca  is  partially  drained  by  the  Rio  Desaguadero, 
which  is  the  only  known  outlet ;  and  after  pursuing  a  southerly 
course  for,  more  or  less,  seventy-flve  leagues,  the  river  spreads 
over  the  marshy  flats  of  Pampas  Aullagas,  where  the  waters  dis- 
appear through  absorption  and  evaporation,  there  being  no  flow 
either  toward  the  Atlantic  or  the  Pacific  Ocean.  The  Indians 
believe  the  lake  to  be  in  subterranean  connection,  under  the  cor- 
dillera,  with  the  Pacific  Ocean,  because  of  the  finding  on  the 
coast  near  Cobija  of  a  certain  kind  of  lake-rush  peculiar  to  Titi- 
caca, differing  essentially  from  salt-water  weeds. 

Although  the  basin  is  gradually  tilling  up  from  the  masses  of 
soil  and  sediment,  which  are  washed  down  its  steep,  barren 
banks,  void  of  vegetation,  tending  to  raise  the  water-line,  never- 
theless the  surface  of  the  lake  is  slowly  but  surely  sinking.  The 
meteorological  conditions  are  such  that  the  evaporation  during 
the  dry  season  and  the  precipitation  throughout  the  rainy  months 
are  no  longer  equipoised,  and  the  area  of  the  lake  is,  in  conse- 
quence, steadily  shrinking.  As  far  back  as  three  centuries,  the 
sparkling  waters  of  Titicaca  dashed  against  the  ancient  monu- 
ments of  Tiahuanaco,  standing  to-day  twelve  miles  away  from 
the  shore,  and  at  an  elevation  of  130  feet  above  the  surface  of 
the  water.  But  still  it  is  by  far  the  largest  lake  in  South  Amer- 
ica, being  about  half  the  size  of  Lake  Ontario,  and  the  largest 
on  the  globe  at  so  great  an  altitude. 

The  scenery  is  not  of  that  miniature  type  characteristic,  for 
example,  of  the  Koenig's  See  in  Europe  or  of  the  Red  Fish 
Lakes  in  Idaho ;  but  the  attractions  of  Titicaca  consist  in  its 
vast  expanse  and  magnificent  Andean  scale  of  nature's  produc- 


24     PAPERS  FROM  THE  NOTES  OF  AN  ENGINEER. 

tlons,  combined  with  the  poetry  of  prehistoric  art.  Looking 
across  its  crystal-clear  waters  over  into  Bolivia  to  the  east,  the 
snow-capped  mountains  of  the  Cordillera  Real  are  seen  rolling 
across  the  horizon  like  a  succession  of  foamy  waves — the  loftiest 
mountains  on  the  'American  continent.  Here  rise  in  majestic 
splendor  the  Nevado  de  Sorata  and  the  Illimani,  two  groups  of 
serrated  snow  peaks,  fringed  with  glaciers,  towering  up  to 
heights  closely  approaching  22,000  feet. 

A  scattering  of  beautiful  islands  is  among  the  charms  of  this 
interesting  sheet  of  fresh  water.  Of  these,  the  island  of  Titicaca 
is  full  of  historic  associations  and  the  home  of  many  an  Indian 
tradition.  The  narrow,  winding  passages  formed  by  the  islands 
and  the  mainland,  where  the  blue  water  is  deep  and  transparent, 
together  with  the  monolithic  monuments  and  ruins  sprinkled 
over  this  classic  soil  of  the  Incas,  lend  a  fairylike  fascination  to 
the  scene. 

The  shores  are  dotted  with  the  dingy,  dusty  huts  of  the 
Aymaras,  whose  past  history  is  far  more  interesting  than  their 
present.  Attired  in  sombre  garb,  with  a  silent,  sullen  disposi- 
tion, reflecting  nature's  condition  at  this  altitude  and  latitude, 
this  strange  tribe  move  about  as  if  mourning  their  deterioration 
and  fall  from  ancestral  glories.  They  are  indolent  and  poor ; 
their  occupation  consisting  in  the  cultivation  of  rice,  potatoes, 
and  barley.  Along  the  shores  of  the  shoaly  coves,  the  Indians 
gather  the  lake-rush,  which  they  suck  the  juice  from  or  make 
into  salad.  This  rush,  which  grows  about  seven  feet  high,  in 
places  so  thick  as  to  appear  like  a  meadow,  is  known  as  totora. 
In  this  bleak,  mountainous  region,  where  timber  is  unknown,  its 
stalk  takes  the  place  of  iron,  wood,  and  canvas.  Besides  being 
used  to  make  boats  (balsas),  mats,  sails,  houses,  and  beds,  this 
bayonet-shaped  rush,  it  is  said,  was  formerly  woven  into  bridges 
by  the  Incas  and  Aymaras,  over  which  whole  armies  were  passed. 
But  now  the  Aymaras  spend  their  time  chiefly  in  attending  the 
numerous  feasts  and  religious  exercises,  a  national  characteristic, 
amid  the  jingling  of  church-bells  from  dilapidated  cathedral 
towers  and  the  wild  din  of  Indian  music.  The  dances  on  these 
occasions  are  unique  in  their  grotesqueness.  To  witness  the 
droll  reels  at  an  Aymara^sta,  after  suddenly  awakening  from 
meditations  upon  the  grandeur  of  South  American  landscape,  is 


26     PAPERS  FROM  THE  NOTES  OF  AN  ENGINEER. 

to  fall  from  the  sublime  to  the  ridiculous.  On  these  carnival 
days,  the  Indians  wear  the  most  fantastic  costumes,  showing, 
however,  a  decided  preference  for  bright  colors.  In  appearance 
they  might  be  compared  to  a  high  order  of  scarecrows  ;  and  to 
see  a  procession  of  them  rushing  out  of  the  church  in  wild  con- 
fusion and  rallying,  with  an  image  of  their  patron  saint,  for  a 
grand  finale,  after  a  day  of  intoxicating  revelry,  is  to  be  forcibly 
reminded  of  an  insane  asylum  let  loose.  The  favorite  sport  con- 
sists of  a  kind  of  tournament,  in  imitation  of  a  Spanish  bull- 
fight, that  is  carried  on  for  hours  at  a  time  in  all  possible  phases. 
They  equip  themselves  with  the  heads,  horns,  and  hides  of  cows, 
which  are  to  be  had  at  Puno,  and,  after  drying  them  in  the  sun, 
they  are  suspended  by  their  belts,  and  then,  probably  for  pro- 
priety's sake,  the  animal  is  clad  in  skirts  that  hang  modestly  to 
the  ground.  Some  play  the  toros,  while  others  impersonate  the 
toreros  and  matador  es,  and  the  whole  population  turns  out  on 
the  plaza,  to  pay  homage  to  the  celebration.  Throughout  the 
greater  part  of  these  exercises,  the  Indians,  old  and  young,  are 
very  grave  and  serious.  A  funereal  solemnity  reigns  supreme, 
and  no  revelry  is  indulged  in  until  they  become  too  intoxicated 
to  follow  the  leading  chief  in  proper  order. 

The  dress,  manners,  and  general  appearance  of  the  Aymaras 
are  about  the  same  as  those  of  the  Quichua  tribe.  The  women, 
however,  are  more  thickly  set,  better  looking,  and  apparently  in 
a  more  cheerful  frame  of  mind  than  the  Quichuas. 

Altogether,  the  lake  region  is  healthy,  and  there  appears  to  be 
but  very  little  sickness.  As  night  draws  on,  the  cool  winds 
sweep  rapidly  through  the  gorges  and  ravines  of  the  great  moun- 
tain ranges,  oftentimes  with  the  speed  of  a  whirlwind,  running 
the  dust  up  into  columns  of  immense  height,  and  drawing  up 
the  water  from  the  surface  of  the  white-capped  lake  in  spouts 
almost  equally  high. 

At  Puno,  a  Peruvian  city  of  5,000  inhabitants,  the  nights  are 
often  bitterly  cold  ;  and  as  llama-dung  and  tola,  a  variety  of 
moss,  are  the  only  fuels  in  the  land,  the  luxury  of  warm  hearths 
is  unknown.  Early  in  the  evening,  the  people  wrap  themselves 
in  shawls  and  cloaks,  or  go  to  bed  for  comfort.  The  region  adja- 
cent to  Titicaca  supports  a  population  of  more  than  one  million. 
Puno,  the  largest  town,  is  mostly  inhabited  by  Aymaras,  although 


THE  LAKE   OF   TITICACA,   SOUTH   AMERICA.  27 

there  are  a  few  Quichuas  who  form  a  set  by  themselves.  The 
city  owes  its  origin  to  the  silver  mines  of  Cancharani.  in  the 
neighboring  hills,  which  are  now  comparatively  abandoned,  al- 
though claimed  by  some  not  to  be  exhausted.  All  the  dwelling- 
houses  are  built  of  adobe,  and  are  very  low  and  uncomfortable  ; 
but  the  city  boasts  of  a  cathedral  that  dates  back  to  1757,  a  uni- 
versity (so-called),  and  several  schools.  It  is  the  central  point 


MONOLITHIC  GATEWAY  AT  TIAHUANACO. 

for  the  alpaca  industry ;  cocoa  is  also  largely  traded  in,  while 
sheep's  wool  and  vicuna  robes  are  among  the  chief  exports. 

The  lake,  which  is  the  natural  highway  between  Peru  and 
Bolivia,  is  navigated  by  two  small  100-ton  steamers,  which  were 
transported  from  the  coast  over  the  mountains  in  sections,  under 
great  difficulties  and  at  an  expense  far  exceeding  their  cost. 
Steam  is  got  up  with  llama-dung  as  the  sole  fuel,  and  the  trip 
across  to  Chililaya,  in  Bolivia,  is  made  in  about  twenty  hours. 

Among  the  intermediate  places  X)f  exceptional  interest,  at 


28     PAPERS  FROM  THE  NOTES  OF  AN  ENGINEER. 

which  the  steamer  touches  during  this  memorable  passage,  the 
church  of  Copacabana  deserves  especial  notice.  This  quaint  old 
church  of  semi-cathedral,  semi- monastic  appearance,  is  to  this 
section  of  South  America  in  reputation  and  ecclesiastical  import- 
ance, what  Notre  Dame  is  to  France.  It  contains  the  famous 
milagrosisima  virgencita,  or  little  miraculous  virgin,  and,  al- 
though the  edifice  has  no  definite  style  of  architecture,  but  in 
detail  is  a  combination  of  Doric,  Corinthian,  and  Spanish  Re- 
naissance, it  is  nevertheless  graceful  and  most  picturesquely  situ- 
ated. Its  high  walls  inclose  a  rare  collection  of  precious  jewels 
and  choice  gifts,  valued  at  many  millions,  which  have  been 
offered  up  as  grateful  tributes  to  the  supernatural  powers  and 
astounding  miracles  of  the  Virgin.  At  stated  periods,  great 
multitudes  come  from  all  parts  of  Bolivia,  and  assemble  before 
the  sacred  shrines  of  Capacabana,  to  supplicate  spiritual  and  not 
unlikely  material  blessings.  It  is  a  fact  strange,  but  none  the  less 
true,  that  the  most  acceptable  and  favored  prayers  are  said  to  be 
those  of  the  women  imploring  deliverance  from  sterility  ;  for  it 
is  well  known  that  in  these  elevated  barren  regions  and  in  this 
rarefied  atmosphere  of  the  Andes,  people  do  not  multiply  in 
anything  like  the  same  proportion  as  the  population  of  the  deep, 
fertile  valleys,  surrounded  by  a  greater  amount  of  vegetable  life 
and  a  more  normal  atmospheric  pressure.  And  it  is  the  ability 
to  happily  reverse  this  natural  law  that  is  claimed  as  the  immac- 
ulate accomplishment  of  the  milagrosisima  virgencita.  It  has 
been  irreverently  suggested,  however,  by  modern  scientists  of 
deep  penetration,  that  the  credit  of  effectually  alleviating  this 
affection  is  possibly  more  justly  due  to  the  altogether  terrestrial 
supplications  of  the  priesthood  of  Capacabana  than  to  the  more 
celestial  influences  of  the  viryencita! 

The  environs  of  this  romantic  and  religious  spot  are  strewn 
with  the  art  relics  of  imperial  Inca  glories.  These  architectural 
and  sculptural  relics  on  the  borders  of  Lake  Titicaca  are  fre- 
quently cited  by  scholars  as  representative  examples  of  what  is 
called  prehistoric  art,  by  which  we  understand  all  art  forms, 
irrespective  of  chronological  order,  that  show  human  faculty  at 
its  best  in  this  domain,  before  it  has  been  touched  by  civiliza- 
tion. The  extinct  tribes  that  once  inhabited  this  wild  region 
have  left  to  the  world  a  museum  of  most  interesting  relics  in 


30  PAPERS   FROM   THE  NOTES   OF   AN   ENGINEER. 

this  important  field  of  knowledge,  whose  lights  are  few  and  dim. 
Indeed,  according  to  Humboldt  and  others,  these  innumerable 
abandoned  towns,  gigantic  monuments,  remnants  of  public 
works,  and  scattered  cemeteries  indicate  that  the  basin  of  Titi- 
caca  was  once  the  seat  of  probably  the  highest  and  most  ancient 
civilization  on  the  South  American  continent,  whose  vast  popu- 
lation, forming  an  empire  greater  than  that  of  Charlemagne, 
swarmed  over  the  laud  and  has  left  behind  in  these  stone  re- 
mains of  hoariest  antiquity,  the  evidences  of  superior  power  and 
skill. 

According  to  tradition,  the  region  of  Titicaca  was  not  only  the 
home  of  the  Inca  race,  but  also  of  the  great  Peruvian  law-giver, 
Manco-Capac,  who  diffused  his  influence  throughout  the  land. 
An  appreciation  of  the  remoteness  of  this  era  may  be  had  when 
it  is  remembered  that  the  ancient  Peruvians  had  only  the  vaguest 
ideas  concerning  the  ruined  edifices  of  Titicaca  ;  and  further- 
more, that  the  eminence  supporting  the  ruins  of  Tiahuanaco,  to- 
day twelve  miles  from  the  lake  and  considerably  over  100  feet 
above  its  surface,  was  formerly  a  beautiful  island  in  the  midst 
of  deep  water.  This  fact,  coming  so  nearly  within  the  histor- 
ical period,  and  on  that  account  of  unusual  geological  interest, 
warrants  the  belief  that  the  art-relics  of  Titicaca  antedate  all 
others  known  on  the  American  continent.  Authorities  hold 
that  the  ruins  of  this  desert  island  bear  the  same  relation  to  the 
aboriginal  monuments  of  South  America  as  do  those  of  Palenque 
to  the  old  remains  of  the  Central  and  North  American  continent. 
They  indicate  a  much  higher  order  of  artistic  attainment  than 
existed  anywhere  in  South  America  at  the  time  of  the  Spanish 
conquests.  They  tell  us  the  story  of  brave  races  of  men,  strug- 
gling after  higher  conditions ;  and  their  weird  forms  stand  in 
the  wilderness  like  the  skeletons  of  prophets  who  looked  far 
down  the  track  of  the  centuries  and  foretold  a  better  time. 
They  are  indeed  achievements  of  intellect  worthy  to  be  com- 
memorated in  history. 


III. 


A  SKETCH  OF  THE  BOLIVIAN  EEPUBLIC,  SOUTH 

AMERICA.* 

THE  republic  of  Bolivia  came  into  existence  in  1825,  the  year 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  of  the  region  formerly 
known  as  Upper  Peru.  With  an  area  of  450,000  square  miles, 
about  twice  the  size  of  Germany,  more  than  double  that  of  Cali- 
fornia, and  more  than  four  times  the  area  of  Colorado,  the  re- 
public comprises  the  lofty  plateaux  of  the  Andes,  including  half 
of  the  basin  of  Lake  Titicaca,  12,505  feet  in  altitude,  the  old 
province  of  Charcas,  and  a  vast  Amazonian  region. 

These  sections  of  country  lie  mainly  to  the  east  of  the  Andes, 
where  Bolivia's  greatest  length  is  1,000  miles  near  the  68th 
meridian,  and  her  greatest  breadth  about  YOO  miles. 

The  climate,  in  general,  is  healthy,  and,  with  the  exception  of 
terciana,  the  much-dreaded  fevers  prevalent  on  the  Isthmus  of 
Panama,  in  Venezuela,  Eucador,  and  Peru  are  unknown.  For 
although  nearly  the  whole  of  the  republic  is  situated  within  the 
tropics,  not  more  than  two-thirds  of  her  surface  possess  a  trop- 
ical climate.  The  remaining  area  is  occupied  by  high  mountain 
ranges  and  valleys,  table-lands  of  great  elevation,  and  widely 
extended  slopes,  where  it  is  cold  and  dry,  with  a  clear  atmos- 
phere, similar  to  the  higher  portions  of  Colorado  or  North  Ger- 
many in  the  autumn  ;  while  beyond  the  Cordillera,  in  the  lower 
regions  of  the  interior,  it  is  disagreeably  warm  in  the  daytime 
and  cool  at  night,  in  which  localities  malarial  fevers  are  common 
during  the  rainy  season. 

The  aggregate  population  numbers  about  2,000,000,  and  is 
composed  largely  of  the  Quichua  and  Aymara  Indians,  the 

*  From  The  Engineering  and  Mining  Journal,  New  York,  Sept.  25 
and  Oct.  2,  1886. 


32     PAPERS  FKOM  THE  NOTES  OF  AN  ENGINEER. 

former  being  direct  descendants  of  the  Incas.     Their  propor- 
tionate division 


Quichuas 50  per  cent. 

Aymaras 25 

Cholos  (a  Spanish  and  Indian  mixture) 18        " 

Whites  and  half-castes 7 

Those  constituting  the  Indian  element  are  of  medium  size, 
massive  build,  thick-set  and  broad-shouldered,  with  the  body 
relatively  long,  the  legs  short,  the  feet  small,  and  the  face  beard- 
less, with  features  frequently  quite  good. 

Their  aliment  is  almost  entirely  vegetarian,  consisting  of 
chuno  (frozen,  soaked,  and  dried  potatoes),  corn  (either  boiled 
or  roasted),  and  chalona  (dried  mutton).  In  addition  to  these 
articles  of  food,  the  better-to-do  families  consume,  occasionally 
and  in  small  quantities,  rice,  boiled  plantains,  coffee,  cocoa,  and 
pork — a  diet  that  would  hardly  sustain  any  other  race  under 
similar  climatic  conditions  and  occupations. 

The  Bolivian  Indian  is  a  remarkable  pedestrian,  with  legs  and 
lungs  of  unusual  strength  and  extraordinary  powers  of  endur- 
ance. He  will  walk  for  weeks  at  the  rate  of  10  leagues  or  30 
miles  per  day,  playing  a  reed  fife  and  carrying  on  his  back  a 
weight  of  100  pounds,  consisting  of  a  carga  of  from  75  to  80 
pounds,  and  from  20  to  25  pounds  of  coca  leaves,  corn,  and 
blankets,  for  his  personal  requirements  en  route.  He  endures 
surprising  fatigue,  nourished  solely  by  small  quantities  of  parched 
corn  and  coca  leaves.  In  fact,  by  chewing  the  latter  alone,  the 
Indians  are  able  to  travel  for  days  together  dispensing  with  food 
and  sleep,  as  the  coca  leaf  is  not  merely  a  strong  stimulant  but 
also  nutritious.  For  instance,  the  mail-carrier  leaves  La  Paz 
on  Thursday,  and  arrives  in  Sorata,  ninety  miles  distant,  on 
Saturday  in  time  for  distribution  the  same  evening ;  and  pro- 
pios,  or  messengers,  make  the  round  trip  of  180  miles  in  four 
days,  receiving  therefor  wages  at  the  rate  of  one  boliviano  (73 
cents  United  States  currency)  a  day.  When  resting  during 
these  long  tramps,  they  have  a  habit  of  elevating  their  feet 
above  their  heads,  the  only  national  progressiveness  I  noticed 
that  compares  with  Yankee  invention.  * 

The  character,  temperament,  and  habits  of  life  of  the  Boliv- 
ian tribes  are  among  the  most  interesting  subjects  for  close 


A   SKETCH   OF  THE  BOLIVIAN   REPUBLIC.  37 

study  in  South  American  travel.  They  are  strong,  bold,  stub- 
born, serious,  and  reserved,  yet  harmless,  submissive,  generous, 
suspicious,  and  intensely  superstitious.  With  a  contented,  un- 
ambitious disposition,  they  have  few  wants,  a  love  for  strong, 
intoxicating  drinks  being  the  only  general  vice.  And,  notwith- 
standing a  large  fraction  of  the  year  is  spent  in  grotesque,  carni- 
val-like fiestas,  none  of  which  is  without  religious  import,  they 
wear  a  silent,  sad,  serious  expression,  everything  about  their  ap- 
parel arid  manners  having  the  same  melancholy  cast. 

The  Roman  Catholic  faith  is  professed,  but  in  reality  their 
religion  is  the  old  form  of  Inca  worship,  somewhat  modified  by 
the  worst  kind  of  Romanism.  Not  the  least  interesting  of  their 
peculiar  ceremonies  is  the  sad  but  none  the  less  festive  funeral — 
a  procession  composed  of  loud-lamenting,  drunken  mourners, 
headed  by  sprinklers  of  holy  water,  continuing  a  coarse  revelry 
long  after  the  corpse  is  laid  away,  as  a  sympathetic  tribute  to 
the  departed  spirit. 

Travel  in  Bolivia  is  comparatively  safe ;  for  the  Indians  are 
not  dangerous,  and  although  the  last  trace  of  maliciousness 
toward  the  Spanish  race  has  not  entirely  disappeared,  they  are 
grave  and  deferential  to  caballeros.  A  warm-hearted  polite- 
ness, sincerity,  and  hospitality  are  among  the  national  traits; 
and  while  there  is  dishonesty  in  small  things,  merchandise, 
money,  and  bullion  are  safely  carried  all  over  the  country  by 
unarmed,  reliable  muleteers,  without  heavy  expenses  for  inade- 
quate security. 

This  strange  and  interesting  race  lives  in  villages  called  comu- 
nidades,  under  a  governor  or  alcalde,  who  is  one  of  their  num- 
ber. They  pay  a  tribute  of  from  four  to  ten  Bolivian  dollars  a 
year,  those  of  age  who  can  read  and  write,  however,  being  ex- 
empt from  payment  and  admitted  to  the  ballot. 

On  the  25th  of  May,  1826,  the  first  Bolivian  Congress  was 
installed  at  Chuquisaca.  The  constitution  framed  was  by  Boli- 
var, and,  in  conformity  therewith,  General  Sucre  was  elected  as 
first  president  of  the  republic.  During  the  intervening  years, 
she  has  had  her  share  of  tyrannical  presidents,  who  have  traded 
upon  their  official  power  for  private  gain  and  left  behind  the 
records  of  deceitful,  jobbing  careers.  But  fortunately  there 
have  been  numerous  exceptions,  and  among  the  men  of  talent 
3 


38  PAPEKS   FROM  THE   NOTES   OF  AN   ENGINEER. 

and  education  whose  administrations  have  been  marked  with  in- 
tegrity and  patriotic  aims  may  be  mentioned,  besides  General 
Sucre,  Santa  Cruz,  Dr.  Linares,  Dr.  Frias,  Adolpho  Ballivian, 
Senor  Campero,  and  the  present  President,  Gregorio  Pacheco, 
whose  recent  election  is  regarded  with  general  satisfaction,  the 
feeling  prevailing  that  the  prosperity  of  the  country  cannot  but 
increase,  governed  by  so  able  and  honorable  a  man. 

The  complications  attending  the  late  war  between  Peru  and 
Chili  have  deprived  Bolivia  of  coast  and  sea-ports,  and  likewise 
the  great  wealth  of  saltpetre  and  guano  in  the  districts  of  Cobija 
and  Tarapaca  has  been  forfeited  to  the  growing  power  of  Chili. 
The  exact  course  of  a  portion  of  her  southern  limit,  separating 
the  Bolivian  from  the  Argentine  Republic,  has  likewise  been 
for  some  time  in  question.  Hence,  the  main  outlets  for  Bo- 
livian trade  are  through  Chilian,  Peruvian,  and  Argentine  terri- 
tory. The  most  accessible  port  of  the  former  is  Arica,  which 
involves  a  long  and  tedious  land  transit  of  two  hundred  and 
forty  miles  from  La  Paz  to  Tacna,  which  is  in  railroad  connec- 
tion with  Arica — a  distance  of  40  miles.  The  traffic  over  this 
route,  however,  has  of  late  years  become  reduced  to  the  trans- 
portation of  a  portion  of  the  mining  products  from  the  De- 
partment of  Oruro,  and  to  the  mule-post  from  La  Paz  to  Tacna, 
regularly  performed  in  five  days,  while  the  great  bulk  of  trade 
from  the  La  Paz  District  is  by  steamer  across  Lake  Titicaca,  and 
through  Peru  via  the  Puno-Arequipa  Railroad  to  Mollendo. 

The  third  and  longer  route  is  southwesterly  through  the  Ar- 
gentine Republic  to  Buenos  Ayres,  and  in  pursuance  of  an  ex- 
isting treaty,  whereby  Bolivia  reduces  the  import  duty  50  per 
cent,  on  goods  coming  from  the  Atlantic,  against  the  Argentine 
Republic,  granting  gratuitous  right  of  egress  through  her  terri- 
tory, the  larger  part  of  the  productions  of  the  departments  of 
Potosi,  Chuquisaca,  and  Tarija,  consisting  almost  entirely  of 
minerals  and  metals,  is  drained  through  the  Argentine  in  pref- 
erence to  Chili. 

This  shifting  of  trade  from  the  Pacific  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean, 
and  the  consequent  decrease  of  business  on  the  former  coast, 
promoted  in  a  large  measure  by  political  spite,  has  been  felt  so 
keenly  that  a  new  impetus  is  imparted  to  the  project  of  putting 
La  Paz  in  railroad  connection  with  the  coast,  the  line  running 


A   SKETCH   OF   THE   BOLIVIAN   REPUBLIC.  39 

through  Oruro  to  Tacna,  thereby  recovering  and  controlling  the 
entire  trade  from  the  Pacific  side. 

Besides  La  Paz  and  Oruro,  Bolivia's  leading  cities  and  towns 
are  Cochabamba,  Sucre  (the  capital),  Potosi,  Tupiza,  Santa  Cruz, 
Trinidad,  Tarija,  Sorata,  Corocoro,  Belechuco,  and  Apolo — the 
copper  of  Corocoro,  the  silver  of  Potosi,  and  the  gold  of  Tipuani 
being  among  her  famous  diversity  of  mineral  deposits. 

The  republic  contains  toward  the  centre  vast  tropical  forests 
of  prolific  vegetation,  watered  almost  to  an  excess  of  fertility  by 
a  wide  system  of  navigable  rivers.  The  head-water  tributaries 
to  the  Caca,  Bern",  and  Madeira  rivers,  belonging  to  this  system, 
have  their  sources  in  the  extensive  watershed  lying  on  the  east- 
ern declivity  of  the  Cordillera.  These  narrow,  rapid  rivers  carry 
down  the  gold  from  the  eastern  spurs  and  foot-hills  of  the 
Andes,  of  which  the  Rio  de  Tipuani  is  the  most  celebrated  for 
its  placer  mines. 

This  section  of  country  is  most  picturesque  and  romantic. 
Looking  into  a  clear  blue  sky  above  the  cool  shady  gorges,  where 
high  precipitous  walls  pass  over  into  steep  mountain  slopes,  the 
floral  boughs  draped  with  fragrant  orchids,  ferns,  tillandcias, 
and  cactuses  are  seen  drooping  together  from  opposite  sides, 
forming  hanging -gardens  in  a  natural  Gothic  arcade  of  ideal 
beauty.  The  hills  and  valleys  are  lined  with  forests  of  the  great- 
est exuberance  and  variety  of  vegetation,  whose  tropical  drapery 
droops  into  the  rivers  amid  a  brilliant  profusion  of  feathery, 
fanlike  foliage,  the  branches  being  often  so  closely  interwoven 
and  vailed  with  twiners  that  they  appear  like  green  walls  shut- 
ting in  the  streams. 

These  comparatively  unexplored  virgin  lands,  shaded  by  a  be- 
wildering diversity  of  grand  and  beautiful  trees,  draped,  fes- 
tooned, and  ribboned  with  an  endless  variety  of  creeping  and 
climbing  plants,  yield,  besides  the  most  delicious  fruits,  the  best 
coffee  and  chocolate  in  the  world,  of  which  hundreds  of  tons 
decay  on  the  bushes  every  year,  only  a  small  amount  being 
gathered  for  export.  Amid  luxuriant  flora,  of  which  the  broad- 
leaved  palms,  bananas,  and  ferns  form  the  most  striking  feature, 
more  than  sixty  kinds  of  rare  cabinet  wood  stand  untouched  in 
these  immense  forests.  Also  sugar-canes,  cotton,  and  gomales 
(rubber  trees)  grow  in  abundance,  but  as  yet  only  the  latter  two 


40     PAPERS  FEOM  THE  NOTES  OF  AN  ENGINEER. 

have  been  turned  to  profit.  While  farther  toward  the  interior, 
the  plains  extending  over  into  Brazil  to  the  east  are  covered 
with  vast  herds  of  cattle,  millions  of  sheep,  alpacas,  llamas,  and 
vicunas  roam  over  the  high  lands  and  lofty  ranges  in  the  western 
section  of  the  republic. 

The  most  important  pursuit  in  the  tropical  or  lowland  dis- 
tricts, which  has  developed  into  a  permanent  industry,  is  the 
cutting  and  exportation  of  cinchona  or  calisaya  bark,  notably 
the  richest  in  quinine,  producing  the  purest  and  most  efficacious 
fever  antidote  in  the  world,  But  of  late  years,  the  most  acces- 
sible trees  having  become  exhausted,  the  bark  is  no  longer  de- 
rived from  the  forests,  and  the  business  has  merged  into  a  sys- 
tematic, scientific  cultivation  in  plantation  form.  The  credit  of 
bringing  this  nursery  culture  to  a  very  high  degree  of  perfection 
is  largely  due  to  Mr.  Otto  Richter,  who,  besides  being  otherwise 
largely  interested  in  Bolivia,  is  the  leading  bark  merchant,  his 
.four  haciendas  or  quinales  in  the  Mapiri  District,  namely,  Ja- 
randillani,  Bella  Vista,  San  Agustin,  and  Santa  Rosa,  having 
grown  already  over  2,000,000  trees. 

The  bark  business,  however,  has  become  very  much  depressed 
of  late  years,  on  account  of  the  exceedingly  low  price  to  which 
quinine  has  steadily  fallen. 

Not  of  less  importance  are  the  coca  plantations,  from  the 
leaves  of  which  plants  the  mysterious  cocaine  is  extracted.  The 
great  progress  made  in  modern  medicine  in  the  use  of  this 
drug,  not  only  in  various  medicinal  forms,  but  also  as  an  anaes- 
thetic in  severe  surgical  operations  (concerning  which  subject 
there  is  probably  no  greater  authority  than  Dr.  J.  Leonard 
Corning,  of  New  York  City,  whose  recent  experiments,  dis- 
coveries, and  writings  are  well  known  to  the  medical  profession), 
has  created  a  demand  for  coca  leaves  that  has  lent  no  small  im- 
petus to  the  South  American  coca  industry. 

The  plant  only  flourishes  in  moist  climates,  and  is  seldom 
found  in  the  deep  valleys  of  the  Andes.  It  is  cultivated  in  rows 
like  maize  ;  and  after  two  years'  growth,  the  bush  attains  its  full 
height  of  from  five  to  six  feet,  bearing  green  leaves  about  two 
inches  long,  with  white  blossoms  and  red  berries.  The  leaves 
are  gathered  several  times  a  year,  and  dried  in  the  sun  with 
great  care  before  being  packed  for  exportation.  The  bushes 


A   SKETCH   OF  THE  BOLIVIAN   REPUBLIC.  41 

produce  for  many  years,  when  finally  the  planting  of  a  fresh 
crop  becomes  necessary  to  preserve  the  good  quality  of  the  leaf. 

Besides  its  local  use  by  the  Indians,  who  masticate  it  with  or 
without  slacked  lime,  a  tea  is  made  from  the  plant,  and  the 
miners  also  chew  the  leaf  constantly  for  the  soothing  effect  it 
produces.  These  sources  of  home  consumption  in  themselves 
sustain  many  extensive  plantation  enterprises. 

The  development  of  Bolivia's  mineral  resources  may  well  be 
claimed  to  be  the  most  important  of  her  national  industries;  for 
included  in  her  prodigious  mineral  wealth,  which  numerous  doc- 
uments in  European  libraries  prove  to  have  influenced  the  polit- 
ical and  monetary  history  riot  only  of  Spain,  but  of  the  entire 
commercial  world,  there  are  many  gold,  silver,  copper,  and  tin 
ores,  whose  extraordinary  richness  gives  a  large  profit  margin, 
in  spite  of  the  excessive  freight  costs. 

The  name  and  fabulous  riches  of  Potosi  are  familiar  to  every 
one.  Its  discovery  in  1544  is  among  the  oldest  mineral  records, 
and  the  products  up  to  1572  amounted  to  $250,000,000  ;  from 
1572  to  1627,  $340,000,000 ;  from  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth 
to  the  eighteenth  century,  the  records  of  Potosi  show  an  annual 
average  production  of  from  $2,500,000  to  $3,500,000  ;  and,  ac- 
cording to  data  contained  in  letters  written  to  the  king  of  Spain 
in  1627,  the  compilations  of  Friar  Joseph  G-.  De  Acosta,  and  the 
Annals  of  Potosi,  the  Cerro  Eico  de  Potosi  or  Rich  Silver  Moun- 
tain, has  produced  up  to  the  present  time  upward  of  £400,000,000 
sterling  of  silver. 

Prior  to  1825,  the  industry  was  erratic,  and  mining  operations 
were  frequently  paralyzed  by  political  troubles.  Among  the 
earliest  interferences  was  the  civil  war  in  Spain  in  1623,  which 
extended  to  Potosi,  causing  abandonment  and  ruin.  The  war 
of  independence  in  1809,  ending  with  the  peace  declaration  of 
1825,  caused  another  suspension  in  mining  and  a  general  impov- 
erishment of  the  country.  Since  the  independence  of  the  re- 
public, however,  mining  enterprises  have  never  been  disturbed 
through  political  causes,  and  the  irregularities  'occasioned  by 
revolutionary  movements  have  not  extended  to  the  mining  re- 
gions or  caused  injury  to  corporations.  On  the  contrary,  the 
production  of  precious  metals  has  never  ceased  to  be  encouraged 
and  fostered  ;  and  while  miners  are  not  required  to  pay  taxes, 


42  PAPERS   FROM  THE  NOTES   OF  AN   ENGINEER. 

the  export  duty  of  silver  is  only  one  peso  or  eight  reals  per 
mark  (58  cents  per  0.5065  pound  avoirdupois),  gold  being  free, 
and  machinery  imported  for  exploitation  entirely  exempt  from 
taxation. 

The  largest  producing  mines  appear  to  be  concentrated  par 
excellence  in  the  southern  part  of  the  republic,  namely,  in  the 
departments  of  Potosi,  Tarija,  Chuquisaca,  and  Oruro.  The 
former  includes,  besides  the  mines  of  Potosi,  the  ILuanchaca  and 
Quolquechaca  groups,  of  which  the  controlling  interests  are 
owned  by  Seiiores  Pacheco,  Arce,  and  Ramirez,  the  bonanza 
kings  of  South  American  mining,  who  are  reported  to  receive 
annually  in  the  neighborhood  of  $3,000,000  as  their  share  in  the 
combined  dividends  of  these  properties. 

The  growth  of  Bolivia's  leading  industry,  however,  is  seriously 
retarded  for  want  of  more  roads,  proximity  to  accessible  seaports, 
timber,  and  a  better  fuel  than  taquia  and  yareta  (llama-dung 
and  moss)  in  the  silver  lode  districts.  But  these  disadvantages 
under  which  mining  has  labored  until  within  late  years,  of  which 
the  difficulty  attending  the  transportation  of  machinery  has  been 
perhaps  the  greatest,  have  become  somewhat  diminished  ;  for, 
by  means  of  the  Mollendo-Arequipa-Puno  Railroad,  connecting 
with  the  steam  navigation  on  Lake  Titicaca,  and  the  stage-roads 
from  Chililaya  (or  Puerto  Perez)  to  La  Paz,  and  from  thence  to 
Corocoro  and  Oruro,  an  extensive  mineral  territory  is  made 
easier  of  access  ;  while  the  steady  advance  of  the  railroad  system 
now  extending  westward  in  the  Argentine  Republic  toward 
Southern  Bolivia,  is  greatly  facilitating  the  reopening  of  the 
Potosi  Mining  District  that  has  lately  been  undertaken  by  a 
strong  English-Bolivian  company. 

The  gold  of  Bolivia  is  chiefly  derived  from  placer  mines  along 
the  rivers  coursing  through  the  section  of  country  embracing  the 
eastern  slopes  and  foot-hills  of  La  Paz  Cordillera.  At  the  pres- 
ent time,  gold  mining  operations  are  carried  on  in  a  primitive 
way  by  the  natives,  who  wash  the  richer  gravel  deposits  in  the 
batea.  The  "batea  is  a  circular,  shallow  wooden  dish  or  bowl 
eighteen  inches  in  diameter,  for  separating,  through  continuous 
use  of  water,  the  grains  of  gold  from  the  dirt,  sand,  pyritic  mat- 
ter, magnetic  iron,  etc.,  and  is  to  the  South  Americans  what  the 
pan  is  to  the  California  miner.  It  produces  the  most  accurate 


A   SKETCH   OF  THE  BOLIVIAN   REPUBLIC1. 


43 


and  prompt  separation,  manipulated  in  experienced  hands,  and 
on  many  accounts  is  preferable  to  the  North  American  pan. 
The  gravity  of  the  gold  resists  the  centrifugal  power  of  the 
water,  and  remains  near  the  bottom  of  the  vessel,  forming  the 
extreme  point  of  a  sector,  while  the  lighter  particles  move  for- 
ward toward  the  periphery,  arranging  themselves  according  to 
their  specific  weights,  and  spreading  over  successively  greater 
areas  in  the  sector.  Where  flat  gold  predominates  (as  in  Tipu- 
ani),  the  batea  is  far  superior  to  the  pan,  as  the  fibres  of  the 


SECTION  OF  A  BOLIVIAN   BATEA.  LARGE  SIZE 


BOLIVIAN   BATEA 

wood  exert  a  maximum  friction  in  contact  with  the  smooth,  flat 
gold  surfaces,  working  against  the  escape  of  the  metallic  particles 
that  adhere  tenaciously  to  the  sides  arid  bottom  of  the  wooden 
pan. 

The  government  records  show  that  the  exports  consist  largely 
of  the  precious  metals.  For  example,  during  1883,  for  which 
year  most  accurate  statistics  appear  to  have  been  kept,  they 
amounted  to  $21,988,729,  of  which  $20,970,883.78  fell  to  the 
mineral  production,  $9,086,647  of  which  product  was  shipped 


44 


PAPERS  FKOM  THE  NOTES  OF  AN  ENGINEER. 


via  the  Argentine  Republic  to  Buenos  Ayres,  the  remainder 
passing  over  the  mountains  to  Arica. 

At  one  of  the  late  national  conventions,  the  mining  laws  were 
carefully  revised,  and  the  new  Spanish  Code  substantially  adopt- 
ed, thus  materially  simplifying  the  tenor  and  title  of  property, 
with  the  view  of  favoring  the  development  of  the  industry  and 
inviting  the  investment  of  foreign  capital.  Among  its  funda- 
mental provisions  are : 

1.  On  lands  belonging  to  the  public  domain,  and  also  on  uri- 
fenced  private  property,  minerals  and  mines  may  be  sought, 
applied  for,  granted,  and  worked.     Within  fenced  ground,  the 
proprietor's  permission  or  judicial  license  must  be  first  obtained. 

2.  All  individuals  possessed  of  civil  rights  may  apply  for  and 
obtain  one  or  more  pertenencias  (one  pertenencia  =  100  m. 
square  =  1  hectarea)  in  one  concession,  not,  however,  to  exceed 
30  pertenencias  (or  30  hectareas). 

100  m. 


100  m. 


=  10,000  square  meters  =  1  pertenencia 
=  1  hectarea. 


The  pertenencias  constituting  one  concession  may  not  be  scat- 
tered, but  must  border  on  one  another  (having  common  side- 
lines), forming  a  right-angular  polygon. 

A  concession  of  10  pertenencias  may  be  : 


or 


1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

2 

3 

4 

5 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

or 

7 

8 

9 

10 

8 

7 

6 

9 

10 

etc. 


3.  Priority  of  application  ("  presentacion  de  la  solicitud  de 
concession")  has  the  preference,  however  slight  the  difference  in 
time. 


A   SKETCH    OF   THE   BOLIVIAN   REPUBLIC.  45 

4.  Gold  or  tin  deposits  or  other  metallic  minerals  occurring 
in  rivers,  placers,  pockets,  irregular  deposits,  or  bedded  veins,  on 
public  or  private  lands,  are  subject  to  the  same  law  applicable  to 
all  mineral  concessions. 

5.  The  claimant  is  owner  of,  and  may  work  to  an  unlimited 
depth,  all  the  ground,  veins,  deposits,  and  mineral  occurrences 
within  his  surface  claim  and  within  the  vertical  planes  passed 
through  all  the  surface  boundary  lines  of  such  claim. 

His  title  and  working  privilege  do  not  extend,  however,  to 
deposits  and  such  portions  of  deposits,  either  in  direction  of  strike 
or  dip,  or  in  any  other  direction,  that  are  situated  outside  of  or 
have  departed  from  the  ground  inclosed  within  such  .vertical 
plane  limits. 

6.  Parties  exploiting  in  or  into  such  adjoining  ground,  having 
passed  the  surface  lines  and  vertical  plane  limits  of  their  own 
claim,  are  compelled  to  return  the  minerals  or  an  equivalent 
thereto  to  the  party  whose  claim  they  have  trespassed  upon. 
And  in  the  event  of  it  being  proved  that  such  trespassing  was 
carried  on  knowingly  or  with  malicious  intent,  the  offense  be- 
comes criminal,  and  the  party  committing  the  same  is  punished 
accordingly. 

7.  The  concessions  are  perpetual  in  duration  as  long  as  the 
yearly  patente  of  5  bolivianos  (5  Bolivian  dollars)  per  heetarea 
is  regularly  paid. 

8.  The  patente  must  be  paid  in  half-yearly  installments  in  ad- 
vance.    It  may,  however,  be  paid  several  years  ahead  if  pre- 
ferred. 

9.  In  case  of  failure  to  pay  the  patente  for  a  period  of  one 
year,  the  claimant  forfeits  his  right,  title,  and  interest  in  and  to 
the  claim  ;  and  his  property  is  sold  out  at  auction  to  the  highest 
bidder,  when  the  claimant  receives  the  surplus,  after  the  amount 
of  his  indebtedness,  plus  costs  and  plus  10  per  cent,  of  the  entire 
amount  for  which  the  property  was  sold  are  deducted  from  such 
amount  realized  by  sale.     And  in  case  no  bidder  appears,  the 
land  is  returned  to  and  becomes  part  of  the  public  domain,  and 
is  reopened  to  location  and  exploitation. 

With  all  the  natural  resources,  however,  that  should  combine 
to  make  Bolivia  an  extraordinarily  rich  and  prosperous  country, 
it  must  be  acknowledged  that,  with  exception  of  the  calisaya 


46  PAPERS   FROM  THE   NOTES    OF   AN   ENGINEER. 

bark  and  coca  plantations  and  the  operations  of  a  few  of  the 
better  regulated  mining  enterprises,  everything  is  in  a  surprising 
state  of  backwardness.  And  at  first  sight,  one  marvels  at  this 
condition  of  things  in  the  midst  of  such  boundless  riches. 

Each  new  administration  has  begun  with  strong  endeavors  to 
pursue  a  policy  conducive  to  business  activity  and  to  the  eleva- 
tion of  the  country  from  its  dull,  torpid  industrial  condition  to 
the  rank  of  a  thriving  progressive  state,  commensurate  with  the 
variety  and  exceptional  richness  of  her  resources.  Liberal  and 
numerous  concessions  have  been  granted  for  roads  and  other 
public  improvements ;  yet,  for  the  greater  part,  nothing  but 
trails  connect  the  cities,  traveled  by  mules,  llamas,  and  Indians, 
the  beasts  of  burden  of  the  republic. 

It  is  true  there  are  navigable  rivers  to  the  east,  and  although 
there  have  been  ably  projected  plans  for  their  utilization,  still 
their  conversion  into  efficient  fluvial  highways  remains  unac- 
complished. For  instance,  in  1868  a  navigation  company  was 
formed  with  a  large  concession  from  the  government,  having  as 
its  object  the  opening  up  of  a  route  down  the  rivers  Mamore 
and  Madeira  to  the  Atlantic.  The  scheme  was  promising,  and 
would  have  given  easy  access  to  half  a  million  square  miles  of 
valuable  land  in  Bolivia  and  Brazil,  traversed  by  immense  rivers, 
forming  a  natural  canal  system  possessed  by  no  other  country  in 
the  world.  But  up  to  the  present  time  there  have  been  no  act- 
ive steps  taken  toward  the  realization  of  these  designs,  and  the 
traffic  in  that  direction,  confined  almost  exclusively  to  the  ex- 
portation of  rubber  and  hides,  is  expensive  and  tedious,  not  to 
speak  of  danger  from  the  more  savage  Indian  tribes  attending 
the  back  passage,  up  the  rivers  of  the  interior  of  Brazil. 

Another  project  is  now  discussed,  to  continue  the  navigation 
of  Lake  Titicaca  through  Rio  Desanguadero  to  Lake  Poopo,  and 
by  means  of  a  new  railroad  line  from  Chililaya  to  La  Paz,  in 
substitution  for  the  present  stage-road,  and  the  navigation  of 
other  subordinate  rivers  farther  south,  to  connect  La  Paz,  Coro- 
coro,  Barca,  Oruro,  Cochabamba,  Colquechaca,  Sucre,  liuanchaca, 
etc.,  with  the  view  of  diverting  the  Argentine-Atlantic  and  La 
Paz-Chilian  trade  northwestward  through  Bolivia  and  Peru  to 
Mollendo.  But,  according  to  the  writer's  views,  there  are  obsta- 
cles in  the  way  of  this  scheme,  to  overcome  which  would  involve 


A   SKETCH   OF   THE   BOLIVIAN   REPUBLIC. 


47 


the  solution  of  engineering  problems  at  a  cost  entirely  dispro- 
portioned  to  the  advantages  gained. 

To  an  American  traveling  in  Bolivia,  the  question  naturally 
suggests  itself :  Why  this  backwardness  and  general  stagnation  ? 


SKETCH  SHOWING  METHOD  OF  SLUICE  WASHING  PRACTICED  AT  TIPUANI. 

From  a  careful  geographico-topographical  study  of  the  stupen- 
dous Andes  chain,  which  has  broken  up  and  elevated  to  great 
altitudes  the  western  part  of  the  republic,  forming  a  colossal 
barrier  against  the  coast,  it  is  evident  that  a  peculiarly  isolated, 
inaccessible  position  and  great  difficulty  in  building  good  roads 


48     PAPERS  FROM  THE  NOTES  OF  AN  ENGINEER. 

are  the  main  causes  that  have  operated  in  preserving  the  coun- 
try's primitiveness.  Added  to  this,  it  must  be  remembered  that 
the  development  of  the  country  has  been  in  the  hands  of  a  peo- 
ple of  whom  by  far  the  great  majority  are  remnants  of  a  nation 
doubly  fallen.  For  even  before  the  advent  of  the  Spaniards  over 
three  centuries  ago,  during  which  time  the  Quichuas  and  Ayma- 
ras  had  been  enslaved,  persecuted,  and  forced  into  degeneracy, 
history  tells  us  that  the  imperial  glories  of  the  Incas  were  but 
the  last  gleams  of  a  civilization  of  a  thousand  years'  standing, 
whose  massive  monolithic  monuments,  innumerable  forsaken 
towns,  ruined  public  works,  terraced  mountains,  and  crowded 
cemeteries,  in  the  historic  ground  bordering  the  mysterious  Titi- 
caca,  bear  witness  to  a  much  higher  scale  of  culture.  And  after 
a  continued  decline  and  free  mixture  with  the  Spanish  invaders 
for  more  than  three  hundred  years,  it  is  hardly  a  matter  for  sur- 
prise that  the  resulting  Cholos  and  half-castes  should  show  little 
or  no  ambition  for  advancement,  and  the  white  constituency 
have  absorbed  in  a  high  degree  the  phlegmatic,  depressed  dispo- 
sition of  the  controlling  Indian  element,  whose  ignorance,  utter 
want  of  purpose  and  life,  and  low  standard  of  comfort,  constitute 
the  real  secret  of  the  characteristic  stagnation  not  only  in  Boli- 
via, but  in  other  South  American  States. 

In  a  word,  the  consideration  of  the  country's  situation  from  a 
politico-economic  point  of  view  leads  to  the  conclusion  that,  of 
the  five  factors  that  Lord  Bacon  and  Bishop  Hall  have  well  said 
go  to  make  a  nation  great  and  prosperous,  namely,  a  fertile  soil, 
busy  workshops,  easy  conve}Tance  for  men  and  commodities, 
knowledge,  and  freedom,  only  the  first  and  last  are  at  all  repre- 
sented up  to  the  present  time  in  this  beautiful  and  interesting 
republic,  so  appropriately  called  the  Switzerland  of  South 
America. 


IV. 

THE   GOLD   DEPOSITS   OF  THE   TIPUANI   RIVER, 
BOLIVIA,   S.  A.* 

THE  growing  interest  that  is  being  manifested  in  the  mineral 
resources  of  South  America,  and  the  importance  attached  to  the 
revival  of  the  mining  industry  in  Peru  and  Bolivia,  may  justify 
the  recording  of  some  data  concerning  one  of  the  historic  gold 
regions  of  that  portion  of  the  continent. 

During  the  past  few  years,  the  successful  reopening  of  old 
Spanish  mines  and  the  discovery  of  several  remarkable  bonanza 
silver  deposits  in  the  Cordillera  have  developed  an  active  but 
legitimate  local  boom,  backed  in  its  incipient  stages  almost  en- 
tirely by  Bolivian  and  Chilian  resources. 

As  a  general  characteristic  of  the  results  attending  these  ven- 
tures, it  may  be  said,  in  contradistinction  to  many  similar  enter- 
prises in  Mexico,  that,  in  almost  every  instance  where  a  lode 
mining  enterprise  has  been  provided  with  the  necessary  capital, 
expended  under  proper  management,  its  efforts  have  been  re- 
warded with  profitable  results;  and  this,  too,  in  the  face  of 
such  disadvantages  as  high  altitude  (from  13,000  to  14,000  feet 
above  sea  level),  inaccessibility,  scarcity  of  fuel  and  labor. 

Among  the  more  prominent  of  the  permanently  established 
paying  silver  properties  may  be  noted  the  Huanchaca  and  Quol- 
quechaca  mines.  Of  these,  the  Huanchaca  is  at  once  the  most 
celebrated  and  important  enterprise  in  Bolivia,  having  already 
produced  about  $5,000,000  in  silver  bullion — the  final  outcome 
of  a  deep  tunnel  development  scheme,  nearly  3,000  feet  in 
length,  and  requiring  some  ten  years  to  complete.  At  the  time 
of  my  visit  to  the  republic,  the  company  was  paying  2  per  cent, 
monthly  dividends  on  a  subscribed  capital  of  $6,000,000,  besides 

*  From  The  Engineering  and  Mining  Journal,  New  York,  July  24, 

1886. 


50  PAPERS   FROM   THE   NOTES    OF   AN   ENGINEER. 

adding  monthly  installments  to  a  surplus  fund  that  is  now  close 
on  to  $2,000,000. 

But  in  point  of  historical  magnitude,  as  also  in  respect  to  con- 
tinuous ore-bodies  actually  remaining  exposed  to  view,  according 
to  the  mining  reports  of  competent,  reliable  authorities,  the 
mines  of  the  Cerro  de  Potosi,  Bolivia,  are  undoubtedly  among 
the  most  phenomenal  silver  lodes,  not  only  of  South  America, 
but  of  the  world.  Of  the  estimated  total  silver  production  of 
Bolivia,  which,  according  to  the  Auditor  of  the  Potosi  Mint,  is 
given  at  over  $5,000,000,000,  the  Cerro  de  Potosi  alone  is  cred- 
ited with  over  $2,500,000,000. 

The  resumption  of  operations  in  these  mines,  on  a  large  scale, 
with  all  modern  appliances,  has  recently  been  undertaken  by  a 
strong  English  company,  whose  shares  are  also  largely  held  in 
South  America.  Judging  by  the  conservative  policy  of  the 
company  and  its  efficient  management,  it  would  seem  that  a 
successful  issue  may  be  anticipated  from  the  exploitation,  on 
modern  principles,  of  these  vast  bonanzas. 

In  Peru,  a  parallel  scheme,  having  as  object  the  extensive 
working  of  the  Cerro  de  Pasco  silver  deposits,  is  at  present  en- 
tertained by  prominent  bankers  in  Lima  and  New  York. 

Such  projects  as  these,  not  to  speak  of  the  regularly  announced 
dividends  from  the  noted  El  Callao  gold  mine  in  Venezuela, 
which  aggregate  to  date  about  $9,000,000,  have  combined  to 
enhance  the  enthusiasm  for  South  American  properties  and  for 
their  possibilities  upon  more  extensive  development  under  im- 
proved systems  of  operation. 

Although  silver  is  the  staple  metal  of  Bolivia,  gold  has  been 
found  in  considerable  quantities.  In  lodes,  it  occurs  in  admix- 
ture with  silver,  in  sulphurous,  antimonial,  and  arsenical  ores; 
but  almost  the  entire  amount  is  obtained  from  lavaderos  or  the 
washings  of  alluvial  deposits  in  the  beds  and  along  the  banks  of 
streams  and  rivers ;  that  is,  from  superficial,  shallow,  or  modern 
placers  of  fluviatile  origin. 

According  to  Alexander  von  Humboldt  and  Professor  Soet- 
beer,  the  gold  production  of  Bolivia  for  381  years,  namely,  from 
1545  to  1875  inclusive,  amounted  to  £41,013,000,  which  is  about 
equivalent  to  the  yield  of  the  California  placers  after  the  first  six 
years'  work.  » 


52  PAPERS   FROM   THE   NOTES    OF   AN   ENGINEER. 

The  Andes,  which  skirt  the  bleak  shores  of  Southern  Chili, 
formerly  Patagonia,  rising  higher  and  higher  till  they  culminate 
in  the  gigantic  porphyritic  peak  Aconcagua,  and  thence  continu- 
ing through  to  the  boundary-line  of  Bolivia  in  an  undivided  nar- 
row sierra,  depart  from  their  meridional  direction,  and  fork  into 
two  great  longitudinal  ranges,  running  nearly  parallel,  and 
known  respectively  as  the  Eastern  and  the  Western  Cordillera. 
They  inclose  the  far-reaching  table-lands  of  the  Desaguadero 
and  the  mysterious  Lago  de  Titicaca,  which  is  at  once  the  largest 
lake  in  South  America  and  the  highest  in  the  world — covering 
an  area  of  4,600  square  miles,  with  a  surface  lying  level  with 
the  tops  of  lofty  mountains  at  an  altitude  of  12,505  feet. 

The  eastern  chain,  locally  termed  La  Paz  Cordillera  or  Cor- 
dillera Real,  separates  from  the  Potosi  mountain  knot  to  the 
north  of  the  Alturas  de  los  Lipez,  and  includes,  in  latitude  16° 
10'  S.,  and  longitude  68°  47'  W.,  the  Sorata  or  Illampu,  a  group 
of  serrated  snow  peaks  fringed  with  glaciers,  rising  in  majestic 
splendor  to  a  height  of  over  22,000  feet.  The  entire  range  shows 
a  succession  of  sharp,  jagged  ridges  with  fiercely  contorted  strata, 
in  contrast  with  the  conical  summits  of  the  coast  cordillera.  It 
is  built  up  of  an  extensive  system  of  Silurian  rocks  (grouped  by 
Forbes),  running  almost  continuously  for  TOO  miles,  of  which 
the  principal  lithological  constituents  are  clay-slates,  grauwacke, 
micaceous  and  talcose  schists,  broken,  elevated,  and  metamor- 
phosed by  intruding  igneous  rocks,  among  which  granites  and 
porphyries  prevail. 

The  whole  of  this  geological  formation  is  highly  mineral- 
bearing,  and  the  Sorata  region  of  La  Paz  or  Cordillera  Real  is 
eminently  auriferous,  containing  everywhere  and  at  great  alti- 
tudes veins  of  gold  quartz,  generally  associated  with  iron  pyrites. 
And  it  is  this  section  of  country,  especially  on  the  eastern  de- 
clivity of  La  Paz  Cordillera,  where  an  extensive  development  of 
Silurian  slates  and  sandstones  faces  the  Madeira  Valley,  that  has 
contributed  and  continues  to  produce  almost  all  the  gold  ex- 
ported from  Bolivia.  It  is  everywhere  met  with  on  both  sides 
of  the  mountain  chain,  although  the  accumulations  on  the  north- 
eastern slope  are  far  richer,  both  in  quality  and  quantity. 

The  waters  collected  between  the  lateral  ridges  and  high 
ranges  of  the  Cordillera  flowing  to  the  northwest,  swell  the 


^ 


Exhibit  N?5 

MAP  OF  THE 

X     RIO  TIPUANI 

with  itt 

Principal  Placer  Basins 

to  accomany  thrRr/tcrt  of' 


54     PAPERS  FROM  THE  NOTES  OF  AN  ENGINEER. 

ITcayali,  while  the  streams  flowing  eastward  and  northeastward 
descend  to  the  foot-hills  and  plains  traversed  by  the  Beni  and 
Madeira  and  their  upper  branches.  The  uncommonly  powerful 
erosion  caused  by  the  avenidas  or  floods  during  the  rainy  season, 
to  which  the  mountain  sides  and  outcrops  of  auriferous  quartz 
veins  are  subjected,  disintegrates,  transports,  and  deposits  in  the 
deep  ravines  and  rivers  flowing  eastward  enormous  volumes  of 
detrital  material,  through  which  are  disseminated  the  liberated 
particles  of  gold.  And  although  all  the  waters  descending  from 
this  range  that  fall  into  the  Beni  carry  down  the  precious  metal, 
the  Quebrada  or  Rio  de  Tipuani,  which  empties  into  the  Mapiri, 
situated  in  the  province  of  Larecaja,  department  of  La  Paz,  is 
notably  the  most  productive. 

The  Tipuani  is  best  approached  from  the  town  of  Sorata, 
which  has  an  altitude  of  about  8,000  feet,  and  is  18  leagues  (54 
miles)  distant  from  Chililaya  and  9  leagues  from  Achacashe  on 
the  Lago  de  Titicaca. 

The  journey  from  Sorata  to  Mapiri,  a  distance  of  32  leagues, 
is  made  in  three  days,  namely,  the  first  day,  the  summit  of  the 
main  Cordillera  spur  called  Llachisani,  from  15,000  to  16,000 
feet  above  sea  level,  is  reached  in  five  hours.  At  this  eleva- 
tion, the  view  is  grand  over  a  vast  expanse  of  country,  and  one 
forms  some  slight  conception  of  the  huge  scale  on  which  nature 
has  framed  her  productions  in  South  America — "  a  sublime  as- 
semblage of  mountains,  plains,  forests,  and  rivers,  unparalleled 
and  without  rival  in  the  works  of  creation."  The  air  is  so  ex- 
tremely rarefied  that  those  who  have  not  already  become  accli- 
mated are  likely  to  be  attacked  with  soroche.  The  first  symp- 
toms make  themselves  manifest  in  the  form  of  rapid  breathing 
and  dizziness,  followed  by  palpitations  of  the  heart  and  a  general 
weakness  and  faintness — the  least  bodily  effort  causing  complete 
exhaustion.  Then  sets  in  a  stinging,  smarting  sensation  about 
the  eyes  and  forehead,  which  develops  into  sick-headache  and, 
if  the  patient  is  fortunate  enough,  ends  in  violent  vomiting, 
which  is  the  only  permanent  relief.  The  general  feeling  is  one 
of  seasick  misery,  and  is  only  slightly  relieved  by  the  smelling 
of  ammonia. 

The  barren  mountains  once  passed,  the  remaining  11  leagues 
to  Mapiri  are  through  the  shady  woods  of  the  quinales,  along 


THE   GOLD   DEPOSITS    OF   THE   TIPUANI   RIVER.  55 

the  crest  of  the  hills  sloping  toward  the  Mapiri  River.  And 
here  one  meets  with  a  novel  feature  in  South  American  travel, 
namely,  the  balsa  navigation  of  the  narrow,  rapid  rivers  tributary 
to  the  wide  system  flowing  through  the  plains  of  the  interior. 

Twelve  hours  after  departure  from  Mapiri,  gliding  and  wind- 
ing continuously  over  crystal-clear  water,  through  24  leagues  of 
the  most  romantic  country,  lined  with  forests  of  the  greatest  ex- 
uberance and  variety  of  vegetation,  shut  in  by  steep  hills  whose 
tropical  drapery  hangs  into  the  very  river,  amid  a  brilliant  pro- 
fusion of  feathery,  fanlike  foliage,  Guanay  is  reached  at  the 
junction  of  the  Mapiri  and  Tipuani  rivers. 

The  source  of  the  Tipuani  River  is  at  an  elevation  of  17,000 
feet  on  the  northeast  side  of  the  Cordillera  Real,  about  five 
leagues  to  the  northwest  of  the  Sorata  or  Illampu,  and  ten  leagues 
in  a  northerly  direction  from  the  town  of  Sorata.  It  pursues  a 
northeasterly  course  for  thirty-five  leagues,  more  or  less,  meas- 
ured along  its  winding  path,  and  empties,  ten  leagues  below  the 
village  of  Tipuani,  into  the  Mapiri  River  at  Guanay.  From  the 
latter  town,  the  combined  waters  flowing  to  the  east  as  the  con- 
tinuation of  the  Mapiri,  are  known  as  Rio  Caca,  which  farther 
down  participates  in  the  formation  of  the  Beni  River,  a  tributary 
to  the  Madeira. 

The  first  five  leagues  of  the  Tipuani's  development  are  through 
barren,  desolate  regions  above  the  snow-line.  Lower  down,  in 
the  vicinity  of  Tipuani,  and  continuing  to  the  mouth  of  the  river 
at  Guanay,  it  forms  a  tortuous  chain  of  deep,  delicious,  trans- 
parent pools,  from  200  to  TOO -feet  in  length,  and  with  varying 
widths  of  from  30  to  70  feet,  linked  together  by  foaming  rapids, 
alternately  running  between  steep  hills  and  through  high  canons 
(angosturas),  or  becoming  shallow  and  opening  out  into  basin- 
shaped  swells  in  the  valley.  The  latter  are  the  receptacles  or  re- 
positories in  which  the  transported  placer-forming  substances  are 
sifted,  spread,  arrested  from  farther  travel,  condensed  and  built 
up  in  layers,  accompanied  with  a  partial  bed-rock  concentration 
of  the  heavier  ingredients,  and  finally  carved  out  into  the  playas 
as  seen  to-day.  These  benches  or  terraces  of  auriferous  gravel — 
the  placers  proper — are  from  five  to  fifteen  feet  high,  and  run 
with  the  river  for  distances  of  from  200  to  2,000  feet,  with  width 
ranging  from  100  to  700  feet,  extending  back  toward  the  slopes 


56 


PAPERS   FROM   THE   NOTES    OF   AN    ENGINEER. 


of  the  side-hills. 


Soil  -mixed,  with 
GrwcljifragTnertts 


Exhibit  N?  6 


Scattered  along  the  banks  irregularly  and  in 
groves  are  pine-apple,  rice  and 
coffee  plants,  orange,  lemon,  coca, 
cascarilla,  rubber,  cotton,  cane, 
banana,  and  divers  nut-trees. 

The  predominating  country- 
rock  throughout  the  river  is  hard, 
non-fossiliferous,  slightly  ferru- 
ginous blue  clay-slate,  the  same  as 
observed  at  great  altitudes  on  the 
northeast  slope  of  the  Cordillera 
in  violently  upheaved  beds  hun- 
dreds of  feet  thick.  Lower  down 
in  the  foot-hills,  they  are  over- 
laid with  friable  red  shales  or 
weathered  mica-schist,  on  which 
are  superimposed  conglomerates, 
red  clay,  and  thick  deposits  of 
brown  soil  of  reddish  hue.  And 
although  this  order  of  superin- 
cumbent strata,  which,  collect- 
ively taken,  is  the  gold-contain- 
ing formation,  is  only  noticeable 
in  places,  along  the  river,  the 
slates  appear  often  reaching  prom- 
inently above  the  water.  Here 
the  formation  is  exposed  to  view 
in  the  canons  and  narrow  pas- 
sages, where  the  contorted  strata 
are  abruptly  elevated,  presenting 
perfect  stratification  and  the  most 
varied  structural  forms.  The 
'aLRock Deposits  beds  maintain  either  a  nearly  ver- 
tical position,  or  incline  with 
heavy  dip  toward  the  north  and 
northeast,  constituting  with  their 
•upturned  edges  the  bed-rock  of 
the  auriferous  alluvial  — 


Gold  Stratum, 

"GtngcML  " 
Conglomerate. 


Bed  Rock 


. 

And  this  country  formation  is>ot.only  traversed  by  gold  quartz 


THE   GOLD   DEPOSITS    OF   THE   TIPUANI   KIVER.- 


57 


veins  in  the  Cordillera  watershed  of  the  Tipuani,  but  must  likewise 
be  ribbed  and  seamed  with  auriferous  lodes  throughout  that  por- 
tion forming  the  side-hills  ;  for,  besides  the  actual  river  deposits, 
there  are  accumulations  of  gold-bearing  alluvium  in  the  side  val- 
leys of  the  main  quebrada,  and  also  high  up  in  gullies  and  on 


Chuchiplaya 


Iscasivi 


EXHIBIT  NO.    7.  —  IDEAL  SECTION  THROUGH    "  CHUCHIPLAYA. 


Auriferous 


1,  Top  soil.    2,  Soil  and  fragments  covering  gravel.    3,  Playa  and  top  gravels.    4,  Aurife 
blue  clay  stratum  on  slate  bed-rock.    5,  Reacbed  by  working-pit  at  depth  of  36  feet. 

shoulders  of  the  bordering  mountains,  folders  whose  genesis  is 
quite  independent  of  the  riverine  agency  below.  Owing  to  this 
probable  occurrence  of  gold  in  place  in  the  immediate  vicinity,  the 
source  of  the  Tipuani  play  as  is  not  alone  to  be  looked  for  in  the 
region  of  its  headwaters,  but  also  in  the  country  adjacent  to  the 
deposits.  Vast  quantities  of  soil  from  these  steep  slopes  have 


EXHIBIT  NO.    10. — IDEAL  CUT  THROUGH    "  ANCOTA. 


1,  Top  soil.    2,  Soil  and  gravel.    3,  Falder  gravel.    4,  Top  gravels  proper.    5,  Gold  bed-rock 
concentrations.    6,  Slate  bed-rock. 

been  emptied  into  the  river  through  land-slides  along  the  valley, 
as  well  as  by  torrents  entering  through  cross-ravines.  And  at 
such  points  of  combined  gold  contribution,  some  of  the  richest 
ground  is  found. 

The  periods  of  greatest  geological  activity  at  the  present  time 
re  during  the  rainy  seasons,  from   November  15th  to  March 


58  PAPERS  FROM  THE  NOTES   OF  AN   ENGINEER. 

15th,  when  rushing  waters  and  a  succession  of  powerful  floods 
tear  their  way  through  the  lode-incasing  formations,  gathering 
material  from  a  wide  area,  conveying  and  subjecting  it  to  the 
influence  of  the  swollen  river. 

The  ancient  bed  of  the  Tipuani  lies  from  20  to  60  feet  below 
the  present  waters,  and  has  been  filled  either  gradually,  or  more 
probably  spasmodically,  by  sudden  flood-installments,  as  indi- 
cated by  the  strati tications  of  the  ancient  gravels,  which  appear 
to  record  different  periods  of  deposition.  And  on  the  other 
hand,  there  is  the  strongest  possible  evidence,  in  the  form  of 
"  pot-holes,"  as  high  as  ten  feet  above  the  surface  of  the  water, 
that  the  river  has  operated  at  higher  levels  with  great  power  for 
long  periods  of  time. 

During  and  subsequent  to  the  process  of  formation,  the  free- 
ing of  the  gold,  by  attrition  and  disintegration  of  the  auriferous 
vein-rock  in  transportation,  has  been  succeeded  by  a  sinking  and 
concentration  of  the  precious  metal  in  the  vicinity  of  the  bed- 
rock or  plan,  as  it  is  locally  termed,  in  which  zone  the  richest 
ground  has  always  been  found. 

Resting  on  the  slate  plan  or  true  bed,  called  in  Tipuani  pena, 
there  is  in  many  places  a  layer  of  "cement  gravel,"  a  hard  con- 
glomerate cemented  with  oxide  of  iron,  termed  cangaUi,  which 
forms  apparently  a  new  bed  or  false  bottom.  Deposited  on  the 
latter,  is  a  rich  pay  stratum  of  gold  sands  and  gravel,  varying 
from  one  to  four  feet  in  thickness,  and  containing  in  places  from 
one-eighth  to  one  ounce  of  gold  to  the  Itatea  (two-thirds  of  a 
California  pan). 

The  value  and  thickness  of  the  cangalli  stratum  are  not  defi- 
nitely known,  as  the  records  of  workings  that  have  sunk  through 
to  actual  bed-rock  are  contradictory.  It  is  highly  probable,  how- 
ever, judging  from  the  character  of  similar  deposits,  that  not 
only  the  "cement"  itself  is  pay  material,  never  having  been 
turned  to  profit  for  want  of  mining,  crushing,  and  amalgamating 
machinery,  but  that  below  it,  lying  on  the  slate,  there  are  de- 
posits as  rich  as,  if  not  richer  than,  the  cangalli  pay-streak. 

Imbedded  in  the  partially  stratified  top-gravels,  lying  in  depths 
of  from  20  to  60  feet  over  the  cangalli  plan,  are  found  inter- 
mediate " false  beds"  of  impure  chalk  or  marl,  which,  like  the 
cement  gravel,  are  overlaid  with  thin  strata  of  rich  gold  soil. 


THE   GOLD   DEPOSITS    OF   THE   TIPTJANI   EIVER.  59 

A  section  through  the  river  formations  shows  the  following 
geological  order : 

Dark  and  red  surface  soil from  3  to    5  feet. 

Soil  mixed  with  broken  fragments  and  gravel from  1  to    2  feet. 

Playa  or  auriferous  gravel  above  river  level from  5  to  15  feet. 

Continuation  of  playa-gravel  with  partial  stratifica- 
tion, extending  below  river-bed,  and  inclosing  rich 
streaks from  20  to  60  feet. 

Gold  stratum  (bed-rock  pay-seam) from  1  to    4  feet. 

Cangalli  bed  or  cement ?  /        fi  f    f 

T-»   i        i        1 1    j.  f)  f       •  o  iee  t 

Bed-rock  gold  stratum I  j 

Besting  on  slate  bed-rock  (or  pena.) 

The  detrital  accumulations  below  the  river-bed,  and  also  com- 
posing the  adjacent  playas,  consist  of  slate,  syenitic  granite  with 
plain  hornblende  crystals,  fine-grained  granite,  white  quartz,  and 
rusted  cellular  vein-quartz  containing  partially  decomposed  pyr- 
ites which  occur  in  irregular  fragments,  but  principally  in  lense 
and  oval-shaped  stones  and  small  boulders.  And  the  minera- 
logical  constituency  dispersed  through  this  debris  in  small  gravel, 
sand,  and  finer  particles,  consists  of  quartz,  feldspar,  hornblende, 
mica,  hematite,  titanite,  magnetite,  gold,  and  occasional  grains 
of  platinum. 

The  precious  metal  is  diffused  through  the  mass  largely  in  the 
form  of  coarse  flat  scales,  thin  lenses,  and  oval-shaped  leaves 
and  angular  plates  of  deep  yellow  color,  which  is  the  general 
character  of  Tipuani  gold.  Accompanied  by  magnetic  and  ti- 
tanic sands,  it  also  appears  in  small  grains,  fine  particles,  and 
dust.  The  coarse  pieces  are  always  flat,  except  the  gold  from 
the  folders,  or  hill-slope  deposits,  which  is  more  granular  in  ap- 
pearance. Nuggets  and  wire  gold  are  rarely  met  with.  It  is 
remarkably  pure  and  constant  in  fineness,  running  not  less  than 
22J  and  generally  23|  carats,  or  about  980  fine.  It  is  bought  in 
La  Paz  at  the  rate  of  27  pesos  (21-60  Bolivianos,  or  $15.12 
United  States)  per  onza. 

Besides  the  cangalli  occurrence,  the  gold  is  distributed  in  rich 
and  poor  patches  throughout  the  upper  gravels,  in  accordance 
with  the  interruption  of  the  current  of  the  stream  by  diminu- 
tion in  its  fall,  by  the  entrance  of  tributaries,  or  by  bars,  reefs, 
eddies,  etc. 

Thus  the  gold  deposits  of  the  Tipuaui  may  be  divided  into 
the  following  classes : 


60     PAPERS  FROM  THE  NOTES  OF  AN  ENGINEER. 

1st.  Congolli  bed-rock,  ancient  or  deep  deposits. 

2d.  Kiver-bed  deposits,  occupying  the  present  wet  and  dry 
channels,  and  extending  below  to  the  rich  pay-streak. 

3d.  Playas  or  placer  benches  above  the  water  level — in  point 
of  origin  the  same  as  the  latter. 

4th.  Folders  or  hillside  deposits,  which  occur  (a)  in  more  or 
less  well-defined  auriferous  strata ;  and  (b)  in  thick  hilly  masses 
of  alluvium,  through  which  the  metal  is  irregularly  dispersed. 

A  long-continued,  extensive  system  of  batea  sampling  result- 
ed in  finding  that  the  river-beds  and  upper  gravels  of  the  Tipu- 
ani  formation  may  be  counted  to  contain  about  50  cents  per 
cubic  yard ;  while  the  bed-rock  deposits,  ranging  from  25  to  40 
feet  below  the  river  level,  contain  the  precious  metal  in  a  much 
higher  degree  of  concentration.  This  pay-seam  varies  in  thick- 
ness from  3  inches  to  3  feet,  and  is  also  variable  in  gold  contents. 
But  it  has  been  made  the  basis  of  remunerative  mining,  in  a 
small  way  as  compared  with  the  California  scale  of  operations, 
under  disadvantageous  conditions  in  point  of  climate,  location, 
and  working  methods.  The  records  of  Tipuani  gold  washings 
date  back  as  far  as  1533,  and  in  those  remote  days  thousands  of 
Inca  Indians  were  sent  periodically  to  gather  the  gold  as  best 
they  could,  which  was  placed  at  the  disposal  of  their  heroes. 
Imbedded  deep  in  the  alluvial  strata  below  the  present  river- 
bed, have  been  found  gold  ornaments,  copper  relics,  hard- wood 
picks  and  hatchets  of  stone,  bearing  witness  to  the  ancients' 
presence  and  equipment. 

The  remnants  of  these  historic  exploitations  are  quite  numer- 
ous in  places.  The  folder,  or  hillside  gulch  deposits,  were 
worked  par  excellence  in  those  periods,  probably  because  the 
richer  beds  below  the  Tipuani  were  either  unknown  or  of  neces- 
sity neglected  on  account  of  the  technical  difficulties  attending 
their  working. 

Later  in  the  history  of  the  country,  the  Spaniards,  who  ap- 
pear to  have  been  in  sole  possession  of  the  river,  carried  on  ex- 
tensive workings  of  the  hillside  deposits  at  elevations  of  from 
50  to  600  feet  above  the  river  level,  where  stone  pits,  basins, 
aqueducts,  ground  sluices,  water-worn  surfaces,  excavations,  and 
boulder  dumps  yet  remain  in  comparatively  perfect  preservation. 

The  system  they  followed,  known  as  cochea,  was  a  variety  of 


THE  GOLD   DEPOSITS   OF  THE  TIPUANI   KIVER.  61 

booming  or  gouging ;  that  is,  the  application  of  water  in  sudden 
rushes,  in  opposition  to  the  use  of  continuous  streams  in  ground 
sluices.  The  required  quantity  was  conducted  in  an  acequia 
from  some  convenient  stream,  and  stored  near  the  terminal  point 
in  a  capacious  reservoir,  at  a  suitable  height  above  the  soil  to  be 
washed.  The  dam  or  side  of  the  receptacle  was  provided  with  a 
flood-gate,  through  which  the  whole  contents  could  be  poured  out 
in  a  torrent  at  pleasure,  and  the  previously  loosened  soil  carried  off 
in  the  rush,  while  the  gold  remained  behind  in  a  concentrated 
product,  arrested  by  the  larger  stones  and  boulders.  The  latter 
were  thrown  to  one  side,  and  the  path  of  the  stream  successively 
shifted,  until  a  large  amount  of  ground  was  caved,  and  a  certain 
patch  washed,  when  a  clean-up  was  made  of  the  remaining  gold 
sands,  which  were  subsequently  treated  in  stone  sluices,  and  the 
metal  finally  separated  after  this  long,  laborious,  wasteful  pro- 
cess. They  do  not  appear  to  have  had  any  bed-rock  floors  or 
apparatus  at  the  end  of  the  flood  in  which  to  save  the  tailing 
gold,  and  the  force  of  the  flow  must  have  been  so  sudden  and 
powerful  that  more  metal  was  carried  into  the  river  than  was 
saved  in  the  channels  formed  by  this  method  of  surface  de- 
nudation. 

Many  millions'  worth  of  gold  from  the  Tipuani  region  are 
accounted  for  by  the  numerous  legends  so  commonly  associated 
with  the  records  of  old  Spanish  mines. 

The  most  conspicuously  successful  of  the  more  modern  en- 
terprises, however,  distinguished  for  intelligent,  energetic  man- 
agement and  methodical  working,  plans,  are  the  operations  of 
the  late  Don  Ildefonso  Yillamil,  who  devoted  himself  with  great 
perseverance  to  the  development  of  Tipuani  property  for  many 
years  previous  to  his  death  in  Sorata,  some  seventeen  years  since. 
The  records  of  his  estate  show  that  over  $2,000,000  were  gained 
by  his  mining  operations  in  and  below  the  Tipuani  river-bed. 
The  system  he  followed  was  the  excavation  of  a  large  open  pit 
with  sloping  sides,  pushed  vigorously  to  bed-rock,  where  the 
rich  gold  stratum  was  rapidly  mined  and  washed.  In  sinking, 
great  numbers  of  Indians  were  employed,  who  conveyed  both 
dirt  and  water  to  the  surface  by  passing  in  leather  aprons  and 
buckets  from  one  tier  of  men  to  the  other. 

Although  Yillamil  a'nd  others  have  already  worked,  with  more 


62  PAPEES   FROM   THE  NOTES    OF   AN   ENGINEER. 

or  less  thoroughness,  many  placers  for  miles  along  the  Tipuani, 
there  still  remain  relatively  large  playa  tracts  that  could  be 
mined  profitably.  Since  the  suspension  of  the  more  extensive 
operations,  the  natives  alone  continue  the  to<?#-panning  of  the 
upper  gravels,  producing  annually  not  to  exceed  $20,000.  The 
causes  operating  against  the  success  of  some  of  the  attempts  to 
work  these  deposits  more  continuously  and  systematically,  be- 
sides consisting  in  the  natural  peculiarities  of  location,  that  is, 
concealment  and  depth  below  the  drainage  level,  are  also  to  be 
found  in  the  crudeness  of  the  methods  followed  in  mining  and 
washing.  Owing  to  a  very  limited  familiarity  with  the  me- 
chanics of  mining,  the  main  obstacles — water  and  exploitation 
in  gravelly  formations — were  only  partially  overcome,  and  suc- 
cess, in  consequence,  oftentimes  curtailed.  The  Quebrada, 
abounds  in  timber  suitable  for  purposes  of  placer  mining ;  but 
for  want  of  the  necessary  tools  and  machinery  to  convert  it 
cheaply  into  lumber,  it  has  not  been  used  to  secure  and  acceler- 
ate drifting  in  loose  ground,  nor  to  construct  effective  sluices. 
Thus  the  Bolivian  miners  were  debarred  from  working  through 
shafts  and  drives,  substituting  therefor  the  open  pit-stripping 
method,  which  required  much  more  time,  labor,  and  expense,  its 
chief  drawbacks  consisting  in  the  large  surface  offered  to  the 
percolation  of  water,  the  reduced  bottom  area  caused  by  the 
sloping  sides,  and  a  constant  danger  of  filling  up,  by  slides, 
floods,  and  silt.  And  as  the  pumping  plants  were  extremely 
deficient,  the  draining  of  a  comparatively  shallow  excavation 
was  a  formidable  undertaking  of  doubtful  success.  The  grade, 
topography,  and  dumpage  facilities  of  the  river  preclude  the 
possibility  of  applying  the  principles  of  hydraulic  mining  on  a 
large  scale,  or  of  driving  a  bed-rock  tunnel  to  tap  and  drain  the 
lower  pay  zones.  The  only  feasible  method  is  the  mining  of 
the  bed-rock  deposits  through  shafts  and  drifts,  and  the  careful 
washing  of  the  wash-dirt  and  gravel  in  comparatively  short, 
properly  adjusted  sluice  systems,  for  which  sufficient  grade  can 
be  secured  along  the  banks,  and  in  these  operations,  water-power 
can  be  utilized  to  operate  the  necessary  pumps.  Mines  of  simi- 
lar character  are  known  in  California,  Victoria,  and  Western 
Australia,  where  millions  of  tons  of  wash-dirt  have  been  profit- 
ably mined,  the  pay-streak  underlying  the  top  strata  having 


THE   GOLD   DEPOSITS    OF   THE   TIPUANI   KIV  EE.  63 

been  in  many  instances  much  lower  in  grade  than  in  the  Tipu- 
ani  region. 

In  view  of  this  fact  and  the  results  already  attained,  and  in 
view  of  the  advantages  of  richness  and  cheap  labor  to  compen- 
sate for  the  disadvantages  of  a  somewhat  remote  situation  and 
occurrence  below  the  drainage  level  in  a  wet  formation,  the 
Tipuani  field  may  be  pronounced  one  in  which,  with  the  appli- 
cation of  the  improvements  indicated,  profitable  operations  on  a 
limited  scale  could  be  carried  on  for  some  years  to  come. 

The  reputation  of  the  Quebrada  for  unhealthiness  is  not  alto- 
gether undeserved,  as  tertian  fever  prevails  at  times.  And  al- 
though I  have  no  personal  experience  to  relate  as  to  its  fre- 
quency and  gravity,  having  enjoyed  better  health  while  examin- 
ing the  river  than  at  any  time  in  my  South  American  travels, 
and  having  only  noticed  one  case  in  Tipuani,  I  was  told  that 
terciana  was  common  during  the  wet  season. 

These  intermittent*  are  confined,  however,  to  those  portions 
of  the  river  where,  besides  a  glowing  midday  sun,  preceded  and 
followed  by  a  chilliness  of  air  mornings  and  evenings,  accumu- 
lations of  decaying  vegetation  are  hidden  by  dense  masses  of 
foliage  from  the  ventilating  influence  of  the  breezes,  which 
cannot  penetrate  at  a  sufficiently  low  level  to  carry  away  the 
malarial  emanations  from  the  rank  grounds  and  their  occupants 
adjacent  to  the  river. 


V. 


THE   GOLD   QUARTZ   MINES    OF   GRASS   YALLEY, 
NEYADA  COUNTY,   CALIFORNIA.* 

THE  name  of  Grass  Yalley  has  become  classic  in  the  history 
of  American  gold  mining.  For  some  thirty  years,  remunerative 
operations  have  been  quietly  but  continuously  carried  on  in  that 
famous  region,  until  finally,  the  economic  merits  of  its  phenom- 
enal belt  of  auriferous,  pyritous  quartz  lodes,  and  the  conserva- 
tism of  management  and  business  success  that  have  attended 
mining  in  that  part  of  California,  have  won  for  Grass  Yalley  a 
reputation  as  a  permanent,  legitimate  gold  mining  centre,  second 
to  none  of  the  mineral  districts,  either  in  the  United  States  or 
in  foreign  countries. 

Besides  being  situated  in  the  midst  of  the  largest,  the  most 
important  and  prosperous  gold  quartz  mining  district  in  Califor- 
nia, in  the  heart  of  the  great  auriferous  zone  extending  along 
the  western  flank  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  Mountains,  the  town  of 
Grass  Yalley  numbers  about  7,000  inhabitants,  and  a  healthy 
activity  pervades  all  business,  with  every  indication  that  the 
place  has  come  to  stay,  and  has  yet  to  reach  the  zenith  of  its 
growth.  It  is  most  picturesquely  nestled  in  the  fertile,  fruit- 
grown  foot-hills  of  the  beautifully  wooded  range,  distant  from 
San  Francisco  about  160  miles  by  rail,  of  which  144  miles  are 
on  the  Central  Pacific,  from  San  Francisco  to  Colfax,  and  16 
miles  on  the  Nevada  County  Narrow-Gauge,  from  Colfax  to 
Grass  Yalley. 

It  would  be  hard  to  find  a  "  camp  "  (if  indeed  this  term  be  at 
all  applicable  to  that  pious  old  rural  town)  that,  in  proportion  to 
its  size  and  importance,  has  been  freer  from  the  speculative  craze 
and  disasters  that  are  sometimes  connected  with  the  working  of 

*  From  The  Engineering  and  Mining  Journal,  New  York,  Dec.  11, 

1886. 


THE   GOLD   QUARTZ   MINES   OF   GRASS   VALLEY.  65 

claims  adjacent  to  ore-deposits  of  exceptional  value  in  our  West- 
ern States  and  Territories.  Nor  would  it  be  easy  to  find  in  the 
annals  of  American  quartz  mining  a  group  of  mines  whose  work- 
ing has  been  rewarded  with  more  gratifying,  more  regular,  and 
longer  continued  returns,  and  whose  profitable  operation  is  more 
assured  for  many  years  to  come,  than  the  Idaho,  North  Star,  and 
Empire  mines,  which  are  at  present  the  leading  producers  and 
dividend-payers  of  the  Grass  Valley  belt. 

The  discoveries  of  gold  quartz  in  place  in  this  section  of  Ne- 
vada County  in  the  year  1850,  following  the  extensive  opening 
of  important  placer  mines  that  had  begun  at  an  earlier  date,  are 
among  the  first  in  California.  This  county  contains  in  a  marked 
degree  every  form  of  gold  deposit  known  in  California ;  and  as 
an  annual  bullion  producer  of  about  $4,000,000  in  gold  and 
some  $60,000  in  silver,  the  latter  contained  in  the  sulphuret 
concentrates  from  the  milling  process,  it  outranks  every  other 
county  in  the  State,  with  Amador,  Placer,  and  Sierra  following 
next  in  order. 

The  known  lode-bearing  area  of  the  Grass  Yalley  District  is 
comparatively  small  for  the  number  of  veins  it  contains.  Its 
outside  limits  are  not  over  seven  miles  in  length  by  four  in 
width,  which  region  is  joined  by  the  Nevada  City  Mining  Dis- 
trict to  the  north.  But  the  most  noted  tract  of  great  developed 
veins  belonging  to  the  Grass  Yalley  District  proper  is  embraced 
within  a  radius  of  about  two  miles,  in  which  the  number  of 
lodes,  and  the  qualitative  and  quantitative  uniformity  of  the  ore 
they  carry,  are  peculiarly  favorable  to  great  productiveness  and 
permanent  prosperity. 

For  numerous  reasons  of  business  policy,  the  publication  of 
mineral  records  and  statistics  of  production  have  in  many  in- 
stances been  only  fragmentary ;  for  it  is  notable  that  the  miners, 
much  to  their  credit,  avoid  the  customary  advertisement  and  de- 
vote their  energies  rather  to  the  mineral  resources  of  the  region, 
trusting  to  their  actual  merits  to  earn  for  the  mines  the  deserved 

O 

celebrity.  This  loyalty  to  and  belief  in  the  Grass  Yalley  lode 
system  are  amply  attested  by  the  numerous  subscriptions  of 
miners  and  local  residents  to  the  stocks  of  companies  formed  to 
reopen  temporarily  suspended  and  mismanaged  properties ;  for 
Grass  Yalley,  like  all  mining  districts,  has  had  its  "  ups  and 


66 


PAPERS   FROM   THE   NOTES   OF   AN   ENGINEER. 


downs,"  its  tribulations  and  set-backs,  which,  however,  it  should 
be  noted,  were  owing  more  to  irregular  and  unsystematic  mining 
and  milling  and  to  an  imperfect  knowledge  of  local  vein  phe- 
nomena than  to  any  other  cause.  But  leaving  the  details  of 
these  subjects  for  later  consideration,  the  following  list  of  prom- 
inent mines,  with  their  gold  outputs,  recently  compiled  from 
reliable  sources,  is  deserving  of  mention  as  illustrating  the  rich 
productive  character  and  possibilities  of  Grass  Valley  lodes  : 


Mine. 

Depth  on 
plane  of  lode. 
Feet. 

Gold 
production. 

Idaho            )  -D           .    ( 

2  500 

$9  000  000 

North  Star  I  f  refent  \ 

1  600 

3  000  000 

Empire           leaders"  ( 

1  700 

5  500  000 

Eureka  

1  200 

5  700  000 

Allison  Ranch 

700 

4  500  000 

Gold  Hill  

400 

3  000  000 

Rocky  Bar  

1  000 

2  500  000 

Massachusetts  Hill  

700 

2  000  000 

Pittsburg            

1  500  000 

New  York  Hill  

1  200 

1  300  000 

Other  smaller  mines  

3  000  000 

$41,000,000 

A  much  larger  estimate  has  been  reached  by  including  other 
mines  not  specified  in  the  foregoing  table,  besides  allowing  for 
the  large  amounts  of  precious  metal  that  have  been  wasted  and 
stolen  ;  but  these  figures  will  answer  in  support  of  other  testi- 
mony embodied  in  this  article  as  to  the  prosperity  and  lode 
wealth  of  this  already  celebrated  district,  and  the  inducements 
it  offers  for  the  further  investment  of  capital  under  conservative 
guidance. 

The  lodes  traverse  various  formations,  occurring  on  the  plane 
of  contact  between  two  dissimilar  rocks,  and  also  cutting  inde- 
pendently against  the  planes  of  bedding.  They  run  as  parallel 
or  companion  veins,  and  also  in  cross  systems.  The  Idaho- 
Eureka  lode  occurs  on  the  contact  between  a  metamorphic  shale- 
slate  (of  coarse,  schistose  structure)  and  serpentine,  while  the 
Empire  and  the  North  Star  cut  through  the  slate ;  the  Allison 
Ranch,  through  a  granite  formation  ;  and  the  New  York  Hill 
courses  in  diorite  (said  to  be  !).  The  veins,  as  a  whole,  are  ex- 
ceedingly regular,  only  small,  insignificant  faults  having  been 


THE   GOLD   QUAKTZ   MLNES   OF   GRASS   VALLEY.  67 

observed  as  yet  in  the  principal  mines.  They  are  subject  to 
violent  waves  on  the  strike  and  dip,  which  cause  the  drifts  to 
twist  and  bend  considerably.  These  waves,  in  certain  mines, 
have  a  tendency  to  swing  the  ore-bodies  into  the  hanging  coun- 
try, but  they  almost  invariably  come  back  into  their  normal 
courses,  and  are  encountered  in.  the  drifts  and  inclines,  which 
are  regularly  continued. 

The  ore  occurrence  is  of  the  chute,  channel,  or  chimney  form, 
and  throughout  the  mass  of  average  grade  ore  (from  $12  to  $25) 
are  sprinkled  pockets  and  rich  streaks  of  specimens,  which  are 
collected  and  disposed  of  as  a  separate  division  of  mining.  The 
feather  edge  or  contour  limits  of  the  chutes  form  irregular,  wavy 
lines,  so  that  the  point  at  which  a  new  level  running  from  the 
shaft  toward  a  chute  will  come  into  ore  does  not  always  corre- 
spond with  the  calculation  based  on  the  average  trend  of  the 
chute  and  the  angle  that  such  line  of  trend  makes  with  the  main 
incline-shaft.  Frequently  a  chute  will  appear  to  be  leaving  the 
line  of  dip  so  fast,  owing  to  the  drift  running  into  a  concavity 
in  its  boundary,  that  as  much  as  200  feet  will  have  to  be  drifted 
through  practically  barren  ground,  past  the  normal  line  of  inter- 
section, before  the  pay-ore  is  encountered. 

But  no  anxiety  is  felt  on  this  account ;  for  sooner  or  later,  the 
chute  is  surely  met  with,  and  the  drift  continues  in  ore  across 
the  same  for  the  usual  width.  Indeed,  so  persistent  are  these 
ore-channels  that,  once  the  direction  and  width  are  clearly  deter- 
mined, by  a  series  of  levels  at  regular  intervals,  a  new  level  run 
at  a  lower  point  in  the  mine  when  coming  into  the  chimney  at 
JT,  for  example,  puts  practically  the  whole  stripe  A,  B,  C,  D  in 
sight,  so  infallible  is  the  continuity  of  the  ore  ground  in  such 
mines  as  the  Idaho,  the  North  Star,  and  the  Empire. 

The  gold  is  inclined  to  occur  finely  disseminated  through  the 
milk-white  lode  quartz,  and  is  closely  associated  with  pyrites  and 
occasional  spots  of  galena.  The  presence  of  the  latter  indicates 
rich  ore,  as  does  also  the  arrangement  of  the  ore  constituents  in 
banded,  ribbon  structure.  The  proportion  of  pyrites  is  such  as 
to  yield  three  and  a  half  tons  of  sulphuret  concentrates  in  one 
hundred  tons  of  milled  ore.  Where  the  pyrites  occurs,  however, 
impregnated  in  the  fresh  or  stained  country-rock  adjoining  the 
lode-filling  proper,  it  becomes  impoverished  in  gold  contents. 


68 


PAPERS  FROM  THE  NOTES  OF  AN  ENGINEER. 


The  presence  of  calcite  is  likewise  unfavorable  to  the  quality  of 
ore.  In  places,  the  metallic  constituents  disappear  almost  en- 
tirely, leaving  the  quartz  in  compact,  pure  white  masses.  Such 
apparently  barren  bodies  will  frequently  mill  from  $8  to  $12  per 
ton.  Owing  to  the  improvement  that  quartz  mining  has  under- 
gone within  the  past  two  years,  much  better  results  are  nowT  at- 
tained at  Grass  Yalley  in  milling  these  grades  of  ore  than  was 
formerly  possible.  This  closer  working  of  the  ores  has  been 
brought  about  by  a  reduction  of  mining  and  metallurgical  costs, 
in  consequence  of — 1st,  the  extensive  application  of  water-power 
for  hoists,  for  milling,  and  lastl}7,  but  not  less  important,  for  air- 


drills  ;  2d,  the  building  of  mill  plants  with  a  greater  regard  for 
gravity  handling  and  automatic  action  throughout,  combined 
with  a  multiplicity  of  stamps.  The  gains  resulting  from  these 
changes  have  begun  to  tell,  and  the  bullion-producing  industries 
in  this  section  of  California  will  now  be  steadier  and  longer  sus- 
tained, backed  by  the  large  amounts  of  ore,  formerly  considered 
low  grade,  that  are  now  susceptible  of  profitable  exploitation. 
The  appreciation  of  the  advantages  offered  under  the  new  stand- 
ard of  mining  and  milling  is  showing  itself  in  the  work  of  re- 
habilitating old  and  partially  deserted  mines  in  numerous  parts 
of  the  State  ;  and  in  certain  districts  where  the  size  of  the  lode 


THE   GOLD   QUAETZ   MINES   OF   GRASS   VALLEY.  69 

is  favorable  to  a  large  scale  of  operations,  gold-bearing  quartz  is 
profitably  worked  with  a  yield  as  low  as  $5  a  ton. 

The  career  of  the  Idaho  has,  since  its  first  opening,  been  fol- 
lowed with  interest  by  the  mining  community ;  and  its  long- 
continued  dividend  record  has  come  to  be  a  matter  of  standard 
reference  in  government  and  other  reports.  Some  of  the  salient 
features  of  this  great  gold  property  are  always  worthy  of  notice, 
even  at  the  risk  of  monotonous  repetition.  Its  gross  yield  ap- 
proximates $9,000,000,  of  which  about  $4,000,000  have  been 
paid  in  profit,  in  regular  monthly  dividends  extending  over  a 
period  of  eighteen  years.  This  is  equivalent  to  nearly  $1,300  a 
share  on  the  3,100  shares  of  capital  stock  of  a  par  value  of  $100. 
The  claim  embraces  3,100  feet  of  the  apex  of  the  lode,  which 
has  a  northeasterly  and  southwesterly  course,  a  southerly  dip  of 
70  degrees  and  a  width  of  from  three  to  six  feet,  being  the  first 
extension  east  of  the  old  Eureka  mine.  The  latter  was  an  ex- 
ceedingly rich,  profitable  property  for  many  years,  until  the  ore- 
chute  finally  pitched  into  the  Idaho  ground.  This  remarkably 
productive  ore-chimney,  which  varies  in  width  and  value,  trends 
downward  to  the  east,  ranging  from  500  to  as  high  as  1,200  feet 
across,  and  is  the  only  paying  one  known  in  the  Idaho  lode.  Its 
western  edge,  in  the  lower  levels,  feathers  into  a  barren  spar  zone 
that  runs  for  several  hundred  feet  and  appears  to  be  unfavorable 
to  the  deposition  of  gold  ore.  The  hanging- wall  of  the  Idaho 
vein  is  marvelously  even  and  sharply  defined.  It  shows  fre- 
quent striations,  and  is  so  smooth  and  straight  that  it  presents 
the  appearance  of  having  been  worked  to  order  by  some  skilled 
stone-cutter.  The  foot-wall,  though  also  quite  regular,  is  given 
to  swelling,  which  necessitates  much  heavy  timbering,  and  in- 
creases the  cost  of  mining  as  compared  with  the  conditions  pre- 
vailing in  other  neighboring  mines.  But  this  swelling  peculiarity 
of  the  foot  country  is  only  found  in  the  ground  incasing  the  ore- 
chimney  ;  outside  of  that  zone,  strange  to  say,  the  foot- wall  does 
not  show  this  tendency.  Below  the  seventh  level,  all  the  levels 
are  run  to  the  east,  to  catch  the  main  chimney  that,  in  the  lowest 
workings,  is  making  rapidly  toward  the  Maryland  claim,  in  which 
property,  it  is  generally  believed,  the  chute  will  eventually  be 
found  to  continue,  but  at  a  depth  that  may  render  its  rapid, 
economical  working  greatly  dependent  on  the  right  of  way 
5 


70 


PAPEKS  FROM  THE  NOTES  OF  AN  ENGINEER. 


through  the  Idaho,  or  other  arrangements  with  that  company. 
As  the  Idaho,  like  most  other  Grass  Yalley  mines,  has  not  been 
worked  or  trimmed  to  sell,  it  has  happened  once  or  twice  in  its. 
career  that,  in  consequence  of  the  development-work  having 
fallen  behind,  temporary  exhaustions  have  set  in,  which,  in  con- 
junction with  the  encountering  of  lower  grade  bodies,  and  un- 
usually heavy  expenditures  in  the  improvement  account,  have 
caused  decreased  earnings  for  a  few  months  at  a  time.  Thus,  in 
1883,  the  profits  ran  down  to  $34,100,  as  will  be  seen  in  the  fol- 
lowing table : 


Year. 

Tons. 

Yield 
of  rock. 

Cost  of 
mining  and 
milling. 

Product. 

Dividends. 

1881  

27  945 

$22  95 

$9  51 

$640  000 

$271  250 

1882  

27  639 

20  64 

9  83 

627  000 

263  300 

1883  

28  572 

12  76 

8  70 

362  000 

34  100 

1884  

31,143 

18  04 

7  86 

561,895 

271,250 

Bat  from  that  year,  the  mine  improved  rapidly  and  returned 
in  1884  to  its  old-time  prosperity.  Since  then  it  has  continued 
to  improve,  until  now,  at  a  depth  of  about  2,400  feet  on  the  in- 
cline plane  of  the  lode  (about  1,800  feet  vertical  measurement),, 
the  mine  is  producing  a  most  satisfactory  quantity  and  grade  of 
quartz,  considerably  above  the  average,  although  not  quite  up  to 
the  highest  of  former  years. 

A  great  saving  in  running  expenses  has  been  effected  by  the 
substitution  of  water-power  for  steam.  The  Pelton  wheel,  of 
the  "  hurdy-gurdy  "  class,  designed  for  relatively  small  supplies 
of  water  under  high  heads,  is  in  general  use,  and  gives  most  sat- 
isfactory results.  This  change  cost  the  Idaho  Company  about 
$55,000  ;  but  the  actual  saving  in  fuel,  labor,  and  repairs  amounts 
to  at  least  $30,000  a  year,  so  that  the  interest  accruing  on  the 
amount  invested  in  this  plant  is  all  that  could  be  desired. 

At  the  present  time  there  are  some  220  men  on  the  company's 
pay-roll,  of  which  ninety  are  stopers  (equal  45  men  on  ore  in 
each  shift) ;  and  the  daily  output,  being  about  95  tons,  gives  a 
little  over  one  ton  of  ore  per  stoper  per  day,  and  something* 
over  two  men  on  the  pay-roll  to  the  ton  of  ore  mined  and  milled. 
Sinking  at  present  depth  costs  from  $25  to  $32  a  foot,  and  drift- 
ing $9  a  foot ;  wages,  from  $2.50  to  $3  a  day. 

The  35-stamp  mill  of  the  Idaho  Company,  with  the  exception 


THE   GOLD   QUARTZ   MINES   OF   GRASS   VALLEY. 

of  the  addition  of  self-feeders,  has  hardly  been  changed  or  im- 
proved since  the  early  days,  and  belongs  to  the  antiquated  type. 
The  stamps  weigh  850  pounds ;  number  of  drops,  72  ;  height, 
9£  inches ;  capacity  in  twenty-four  hours,  95  tons ;  proportion 
of  sulphurets,  one  per  cent. 

While  the  Idaho  is  perhaps  the  most  renowned  mine  in  Grass 
Valley,  there  are  other  properties  that  in  earning  capacity  are 
following  closely  in  its  wake,  although,  for  various  reasons,  less 
has  been  openly  said  concerning  their  affairs.  The  Empire  and 
North  Star  mines  belong  in  this  category.  These  are  in  some 
respects  twin  mines,  having  many  features  in  common  in  point 
of  vein  geology  and  methods  of  working,  besides  being  under 
the  same  administration  ;  and  as  the  Empire  is  the  oldest  work- 
ing mine  in  California,  it  is,  perhaps,  entitled  to  first  considera- 
tion. The  claim  embraces  two  companion  veins  only  100  feet 
apart,  both  carrying  rich  ore,  so  that  the  property  is  practically 
a  double  mine ;  and  having  only  an  average  dip  of  about  30  de- 
grees west  and  a  north-northeast  and  south-southwest  strike,  it 
represents  the  flat  veins  of  the  Grass  Valley  region  in  opposition 
to  the  Idaho,  which  is  a  type  of  the  practically  perpendicular  or 
straight  veins. 

For  about  thirty  years  the  Empire  has  been  worked  nearly 
continuously,  although  for  many  years  after  its  first  discovery  it 
was  operated  in  a  most  desultory  manner.  But,  notwithstanding 
the  former  crudeness  and  waste,  the  mine  has  always  paid,  as  the 
ore  is  of  high  grade  and  exceedingly  abundant.  Several  years 
ago  the  mill  was  entirely  reconstructed  and  has  since  been  en- 
larged, until  now  forty  stamps,  with  self-feeders,  are  constantly 
in  operation,  and  the  mine  is  working  to  better  advantage  and 
yielding  more  regular  and  larger  monthly  dividends  than  ever 
before.  The  Triumph  concentrators,  used  entirely  by  this  com- 
pany, give  great  satisfaction  ;  and  although  the  mill  plant  is  not 
as  perfect  in  detail  as  the  new  mill  of  the  North  Star,  which  is 
now  nearing  completion,  nearly  all  of  the  latest  and  best  im- 
provements for  convenient  and  economical  working  have  been 
introduced  by  the  manager,  so  that  the  cost  of  milling  is  only 
64J-  cents  a  ton.  The  sulphurets  are  much  higher  in  grade  than 
those  from  other  Grass  Valley  mines,  running  from  $100  to  $250 
a  ton.  They  are  sold  to  custom  works  at  a  reduction  of  $18  a 


72  PAPERS   FROM  THE  NOTES   OF  AN   ENGINEER. 

ton  for  working  charges.  It  is  claimed  that  the  mill  saves  95 
per  cent. ! 

At  the  North  Star,  an  east  and  west  lode,  with  a  dip  to  the 
north  of  from  12  degrees  to  21  degrees,  ore  averaging  $20  (higher 
in  places)  is  extracted  from  the  east  5th,  llth,  and  12th  levels, 
and  from  the  east  and  west  13th,  14th,  and  15th  levels,  with 
large  strips  of  stoping  ground  opened  up  ahead  and  the  mine 
improving  daily.  The  property  will  continue  for  a  few  weeks, 
pending  the  completion  of  its  new  40-stamp  mill,  to  supply  the 
10-stamp  custom  mill  where  its  ores  have  been  treated  for  the 
past  year  or  two.  The  mine  is  so  extensively  opened  that  three 
times  as  many  stopers  as  are  at  present  employed  can  be  put  on 
ore  without  straining  the  property.  Everything  that  expert  de- 
signing and  solidity  of  construction  can  do  has  been  lavished  on 
the  North  Star  mill.  It  is  being  built  by  the  Risdon  Iron- 
Works,  of  San  Francisco,  and  will  be  second  to  none  in  Califor- 
nia. It  will  be  operated  by  three  turbine-wheels,  which  alone 
will  save  $1,000  a  month  in  fuel.  In  general  and  in  detail,  the 
North  Star  plant  will  be  the  model  mill  of  the  State.  It  will 
reduce  manual  labor  even  more  completely  than  the  Empire, 
and  the  cost  of  milling  will  not  exceed  fifty  cents  a  ton.  In 
addition  hereto,  these  two  mines  are  soon  to  have  their  own 
chlorination- works,  which  will  prove  to  be  a  further  source  of 
economy  to  both  the  Empire  and  North  Star  companies. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  working  maps  are  not  generally  kept 
up  in  the  Grass  Yalley  mines  ;  for  among  other  things,  it  would 
be  interesting  to  compute  the  stope  area  corresponding  to  the 
production  of  a  certain  tonnage  extending  over  a  period  of  years ; 
and  from  this  to  estimate  the  productive  capacity  of  a  given  lode 
per  square  fathom.  Such  a  unit  would  often  serve,  in  one  and 
the  same  mine,  as  a  basis  from  which  to  gauge  the  sight  tonnage 
of  the  irregularly  blocked-out  reserves,  which,  under  the  present 
circumstances,  is  a  difficult  problem.  Also  the  compilation  by 
the  United  States  Geological  Survey,  for  instance,  of  a  general 
underground  mining  chart  of  the  entire  district,  accompanied 
with  a  series  of  sections  and  a  survey  of  the  surface  topography, 
would  disclose  many  important  relations  existing  between  the 
lodes  of  the  Grass  Yalley  belt,  in  addition  to  solving  many  prob- 
lems of  extension-claims,  lode  parallelism,  apex  continuity,  etc., 
in  relation  to  surface  claims. 


THE   GOLD   QUARTZ   MINES   OF   GKASS   VALLEY.  73 

As  above  intimated,  the  Grass  Yalley  industry,  as  a  whole, 
since  the  early  days,  has  been  somewhat  erratic  in  character.  At 
first,  one  property  would  loom  into  prominence,  and,  through 
the  continuation  of  its  profitable  operation  for  a  long  period,  an 
impetus  would  be  imparted  to  the  development  of  other  ledges, 
which,  in  turn,  would  become  paying  properties.  Then,  after 
combined  activity  for  a  number  of  years,  some  irregularities 
would  set  in  and  cause  one  or  more  mines  to  suspend.  Almost 
all  of  these  stand-stills,  however,  may  be  traced  to  a  change  of 
ownership  or  administration,  or  to  the  encountering  of  water  or 
some  misunderstood  and  much  exaggerated  freak  of  vein  geology ; 
but  these  crippled  enterprises  were  almost  immediately  succeeded 
by  a  new  group  coming  into  the  field  of  active  producers,  until 
now  the  Idaho,  the  North  Star,  and  the  Empire  happen  to  be 
the  dividend  leaders.  And  while  the  Idaho  and  the  Empire 
have  been  almost  continuously  worked  with  large  profits  to  the 
owners,  the  former  for  over  eighteen  years  and  the  latter  for 
nearly  thirty  years,  each  having  paid  several  millions  in  divi- 
dends, the  North  Star  mine  remained,  until  within  two  years, 
inactive  for  quite  a  long  period,  notwithstanding  its  working  has 
always  been  rewarded  with  gratifying  returns.  Lately  this  mine 
has  been  developed  into  a  permanent  paying  property  of  greatly 
increased  value,  with  ore-reserves  surpassing  in  extent  those  of 
any  other  property  in  the  district,  thanks  to  the  sagacity  and 
able  management  of  Mr.  John  Hays  Hammond,  the  well-known 
expert  of  the  Pacific  coast.  The  other  mines  are  either  operated 
on  a  small  scale  or  are  lying  idle.  But  the  strong  fact  remains, 
significant  of  their  prospective  value,  as  well  as  bearing  favora- 
bly on  the  economical  nature  of  Grass  Yalley  quartz  lodes  in 
general,  that  those  mines  that  are  properly  worked  are  earning 
handsomely,  while  those  that  are  now  shut  down  and  filled  with 
water  are  known  to  have  paid.  Hence,  many  of  these  dormant 
enterprises  were  not  disastrous  failures,  nor  did  their  working 
incur  losses  to  the  owners ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  a  number  of 
them  yielded  profits,  notwithstanding  the  crudeness,  the  waste, 
and  the  great  expense  attached  to  early  mining  and  milling 
methods.  Oftentimes,  indeed,  merely  a  lack  of  the  necessary 
capital  to  put  in  suitable  pumping  and  hoisting  machinery  was 
the  sole  reason  for  shutting  down — intended  at  the  time  to  be 


74     PAPERS  FROM  THE  NOTES  OF  AN  ENGINEER. 

only  temporary.  In  other  cases,  the  exploratory  and  develop- 
ment work  was  hardly  carried  a  foot  in  advance  of  stoping,  nor 
a  dollar  contributed  from  the  profit  account  toward  a  fund  to 
maintain  a  healthy  proportion  between  the  exploitation  of  ore 
and  the  opening  up  of  new  ground,  to  thus  insure  the  mine's 
prosperity  from  year  to  year.  Indeed,  this  hand-to-mouth  sys- 
tem has  only  recently  been  radically  changed  by  the  advent  into 
the  district  of  Mr.  Hammond,  whose  energy  and  influence  have 
played  an  important  part  in  the  resuscitation  of  Grass  Valley 
mines,  and  whose  efficient  management  of  the  famous  Empire 
and  North  Star  have  brought  about  a  greatly  needed  reform, 
for  which  he  has  received  much  credit  in  San  Francisco  mining 
circles. 

The  most  conspicuously  favorable  features  of  the  Grass  Valley 
belt  are  found  in  the  facts  that,  first,  the  bottoms  of  all  the  active 
properties  are  in  good  ore,  some  quite  above  the  average  grade, 
which  has  given  rise  to  claims  of  increasing  richness  in  depth  ; 
secondly,  that  the  occasional  accidents  arid  interruptions  in  the 
past  working  of  the  mines  were  not  brought  about,  in  most  in- 
stances, by  a  giving  out  of  the  ore  either  in  depth  or  in  the 
direction  of  the  strike  (measured  across  the  chimneys),  for  many 
of  the  at  present  inactive  claims  named  in  the  foregoing  list  are 
known  to  have  faces  of  pay-ore  exposed  in  the  extremity  work- 
ings, on  the  strike  and  dip,  and  also  standing  in  some  of  the 
stope  contours.  Some  of  these  apparently  forsaken  ex-dividend 
properties  combine,  therefore,  the  elements  that  go  to  make  good 
mines  and  insure  for  them  an  important  part  in  the  future,  when 
a  more  general  and  vigorous  development  shall  be  resumed — a 
new  era  in  Grass  Valley  that  may  be  confidently  predicted  as 
not  far  distant.  Then,  too,  it  should  here  be  considered,  as  hav- 
ing an  important  bearing  on  the  future  possibilities  and  proba- 
bilities of  these  properties,  that  many  of  their  good  records  were 
made  at  a  time  when  labor  was  $4  and  $5  a  day,  instead  of  $3, 
as  now,  the  thorough  saving  of  the  sulphurets  on  an  economical 
scale  undreamed  of,  and  the  standard  of  systematic  mining,  as 
well  as  the  principles  and  practice  of  milling,  much  lower  than 
nowadays,  when  ores  of  considerably  lower  grades  are  profitably 
worked. 

The  basis  of  the  long-continued  remunerative  mining  at  Grass 


THE   GOLD   QUARTZ   MINES   OF   GRASS   VALLEY.  75 

Valley,  which  has  stood  up  against  many  extravagances  of  man- 
agement, lies  in  the  remarkable  continuity  and  persistency  of  the 
ore  proper  in  the  ore-bearing  ground  and  in  the  liberal  propor- 
tion of  such  ore  ground  to  the  total  vein  area.  This  ideal  lode 
development  in  respect  to  the  quantity  of  pay-ore,  which  is  fa- 
vorably distributed  in  chutes  or  chimneys  of  unusual  width,  as 
compared  with  the  ordinary  proportion  of  the  width  of  a  chim- 
ney to  its  extent  on  the  trend,  fairly  assumes,  in  such  properties 
as  the  Empire  and  the  North  Star,  the  appearance  of  continuous 
ore  zones  or  sheets  of  ore  running  through  the  entire  claim,  and 
broken  alone  by  occasional  spots  of  lean  ground  ;  that  is,  the 
chutes  appear  to  be  about  as  extensive  in  a  horizontal  as  in  a 
downward  direction.  And  this  exceptionally  liberal  ore-deposi- 
tion stands  out  so  prominently  in  comparison  with  the  average 
lode  structure  of  quartz  mines  that  it  suggests  some  reflections 
in  regard  to  mining  experiences  in  general.  A  survey  of  the 
iield  shows  that  there  is  no  scarcity  of  ore-deposits  from  which 
specimens  and  small  lots  of  mineral  can  be  obtained,  which,  in 
respect  to  grade  and  quality,  are  "  pay -rock";  that  is,  the  factor 
of  quantity  is  found  less  frequently  than  quality  of  ore,  in  a 
degree  sufficiently  favorable  to  constitute  a  basis  for  a  pay  mine. 
And  hence  in  the  greater  number  of  the  failures  of  mining  ven- 
tures, an  insufficient  quantity,  rather  than  an  inadequate  grade 
of  ore,  is  at  fault,  although  it  is  not  denied  that  a  fading  away 
of  the  precious  metal  contents  and  a  transition  into  ore-bodies  of 
too  low  a  grade  to  work  protitably  are  also  frequently  met  with. 
The  overlooking,  in  the  examinations  of  developed  mines,  of  the 
relations  between  these  natural  essentials,  is  at  the  bottom  of 
many  mistakes  in  mining  judgment,  and  has  caused  not  a  few  of 
the  lamentable  disappointments  in  the  industry.  Indeed,  it 
seems  almost  impossible  for  some  people  to  distinguish  between 
vein  and  ore,  which  words,  to  the  uninitiated,  are  practically 
synonymous.  They  do  not  stop  or  care  to  think  that  veins, 
even  "  true  fissures"  (!),  exist  without  any  ore  in  them,  or  that 
a  vein  may  be  true  and  satisfactory  in  all  geological  and  ininer- 
alogical  particulars  with  the  sole  exception  as  to  the  amount  and 
dimensions  of  the  ore-bodies  it  contains,  the  latter  being  often  so 
aggravatingly  distributed  and  limited  as  to  always  keep  the  mine 
in  a  most  promising  appearance  for  dividends,  which,  alas !  are 


76  PAPERS   FROM  THE  NOTES   OF  AN  ENGINEER. 

doomed  never  to  be  earned,  and  assessment  upon  assessment  is 
substituted. 

The  Grass  Yalley  mines  are  not  sustained  by  huge  chamber 
bonanza  ore-bodies,  in  point  of  thickness  between  walls,  neither 
do  they  depend  for  their  life  on  a  thin,  high  grade,  sensational 
pay-streak  ;  for  there  is  an  abundance  of  lodes  with  as  rich  ore  ; 
but  the  district  is  supported  by  a  lode  system  containing  exten- 
sive, never-failing,  and  generous  ore-channels,  of  which  class  of 
ore-deposits  these  mines  are  typical  representatives. 

Taking  collectively  the  records  of  all  forms  of  gold  deposits  in 
Nevada  County,  it  is  highly  probable  that  no  mining  district  of 
equal  area  exists  that  has  produced  as  much  gold.  And  while 
it  is  true  that  the  annual  production  has  recently  become  dimin- 
ished, owing  to  the  depression  in  placer  mining  following  the 
sweeping  legal  decisions  on  the  debris  question,  yet  the  flourish- 
ing condition  of  the  quartz  mining  industry  justifies  the  asser- 
tion that  no  known  region  has  the  promise  of  greater  mining 
permanency. 


VI. 

THE    MILL    OF  THE    NORTH    STAE    GOLD   MINE, 
GEASS  VALLEY,   CALIFOENIA  * 

THE  recent  erection  of  a  30-stamp  mill  and  the  introduction 
of  water  as  a  motive  power  for  both  the  mill  and  hoi  sting- works 
give  the  North  Star  Mining  Company  in  respect  to  design, 
equipment,  and  economical  working  one  of  the  most  complete 
and  perfect  plants  on  the  Pacific  coast. 

The  plant,  which  was  built  almost  entirely  by  the  Eisdon 
Iron  and  Locomotive  Works,  of  San  Francisco,  consists  of  the 
following  machinery : 

1st,  hoisting  engine ;  2d,  pumping  plant ;  3d,  compressed  air 
and  drill  plant ;  4th,  30-stamp  mill  of  the  most  approved  Cali- 
fornia pattern ;  5th,  water- works  and  pipe  system  affording 
water  power  under  250  feet  head  to  all  the  foregoing  ma- 
chinery. 

With  the  exception  of  the  mill,  the  entire  plant  can  be  run 
either  by  steam  or  water,  and  can  be  changed  from  one  to  the 
other  in  a  few  minutes'  time. 

The  mill  in  particular,  which  is  described  in  the  following,  is 
as  near  perfection  as  money  and  experience  can  make  it.  The 
buildings  are  of  the  most  substantial  nature,  and  are  fitted  with 
separate  turbine  wheels,  thereby  enabling  each  department  to 
run  independently  of  the  other. 

The  tail  water  of  the  "  original  Empire  mill  and  mine,"  the 
oldest  going  gold  mining  enterprise  in  California,  is  conveyed 
through  a  line  of  24-inch  wrought-iron  pipe  10,000  feet  long  to 
the  North  Star  mine,  with  a  pressure  of  about  250  feet  head. 
At  the  latter  place,  near  the  hoisting-works,  the  24-inch  pipe 
branches  into  one  line  of  16^-inch  pipe  running  to  the  mill  be- 
low the  hoisting-works,  while  a  14^-inch  branch  runs  into  the 
hoisting- works. 

*  From  The  Engineering  and  Mining  Journal,  New  York,  June  4, 

1887. 


78     PAPERS  FROM  THE  NOTES  OF  AN  ENGINEER. 

The  pipe  line  is  constructed  of  the  best  material,  and  is  hy- 
draulic riveted  throughout.  It  is  carefully  coated  with  asphal- 
tum  and  coal  tar,  and,  with  a  little  attention,  should  be  as  good 
in  twenty  years  from  now  as  it  is  to-day.  Heavy  material  is 
used  throughout,  to  allow  for  deterioration,  and  the  working 
strain  on  no  part  exceeds  12,000  pounds  per  sectional  inch. 
The  line  is  provided  with  air  valves,  blow-off  and  stop  valves, 
and  also  with  air  chambers  near  the  works  to  prevent  shock  or 
jar  in  the  pipes. 

The  branch  running  into  the  hoisting-works  conveys  the 
water  for  the  motors  of  the  hoisting  and  pumping  machinery. 
These  motors  consist  of  one  five-foot  Pelton  wheel  for  the  hoist- 
ing machinery,  equipped  with  deflector  nozzle  and  a  Moore's  dif- 
ferential hydraulic  gate  (both  being  operated  from  the  engineer's 
platform),  and  two  Pelton  wheels,  of  six  feet  and  eight  feet  di- 
ameters respectively,  both  of  which  are  mounted  on  the  same 
shaft  in  a  substantial  framework,  for  the  pumping  machinery. 
This  latter  arrangement  facilitates  the  changing  of  the  pumping 
capacity  at  the  shortest  notice  by  increasing  or  decreasing  the  speed. 

Below  the  hoisting-works  and  connected  with  the  same  by  a 
substantial  bridge  is  the  thirty-stamp  mill.  The  bridge  referred 
to  is  on  a  level  with,  and  is  the  extension  of  the  landing  plat- 
form of  the  hoisting-works,  from  which  the  ore  is  dumped  into 
the  upper  part  of  the  mill. 

The  ore,  as  it  comes  from  the  mine  in  cars,  is  trammed  across 
the  bridge  and  dumped  over  grizzlies  into  an  ore-bin  of  2,000 
tons  capacity.  The  coarse  raw  ore  which  passes  over  the  griz- 
zlies accumulates  in  a  separate  bin,  and  is  fed  to  two  improved 
Blake  crushers.  The  ore  thus  crushed  joins  the  fine  ore  which 
passes  the  grizzlies  and  accumulates  in  the  main  bins  which  sup- 
ply the  stamp  batteries.  The  latter  are  six  in  number,  carrying 
five  stamps  each,  with  single  discharge  mortars,  and  are  fed  au- 
tomatically by  six  Challenge  ore  feeders.  The  dies,  shoes,  tap- 
pets, and  cams  are  made  of  the  best  Pittsburg  steel ;  and  the  cam 
shafts,  each  of  which  carry  ten  stamps,  are  of  the  best  hammered 
scrap  iron.  Weight  of  Stamp,  870  Ibs.  Drop,  8  inches.  Screen 
Frames,  56f//x25",  outside,  with  openings  opposite  each  stamp. 
No.  30,  Brass  Wire  Screen.  One  Iroji  Sluice  Apron,  57'/x54//. 
Two  Iron  Sluices,  25//x77//. 


•ffl 


THE  MILL   OF  THE  NOETH   STAB  GOLD   MINE.  83 

Provision  has  been  made  for  ten  additional  stamps,  for  which 
the  necessary  space,  power,  and  foundations  are  at  hand.  From 
the  batteries  the  ore  pulp  passes  through  cast-iron  sluice-boxes, 
provided  with  amalgamated  copper  plates,  and  thence  on  to 
shaking-tables.  These  shaking-tables,  of  which  there  are  six 
(one  for  each  battery),  are  4  feet  wide  by  12  feet  long;  they  are 
constructed  entirely  of  wroaght-iron,  and  are  also  provided  with 
copper  plates.  From  here  the  pulp  is  run  through  pipes  on  to 
twelve  "Triumph"  concentrators. 

To  facilitate  and  expedite  cleaning  up,  the  mill  is  furnished 
with  a  cleaning  barrel,  a  batea,  and  a  clean-up  pan. 

Extensions  of  the  main  mill  building  form  the  sulphuret  and 
retort  room  on  one  side,  the  turbine  and  compressor  room  on  an- 
other side,  and  a  clean-up  room  on  a  third  side.  The  clean-up 
room  contains  cast-iron  cleaning  tanks,  covered  with  marble 
slabs,  wash  -  stand,  and  clean-up  pan.  The  compressor  room 
contains  a  14-inch  by  24-inch  duplex  compressor  and  air-re- 
ceiver, the  latter  being  connected  by  pipes  with  an  air-receiver  in 
the  hoisting-works,  which  supplies  the  compressed-air  drills  in 
the  mine.  The  wheel-house  contains  the  water-wheels  (vertical 
turbines)  which  drive  the  different  departments  of  machinery  as 
follows : 

One  six-foot  Pelton  wheel,  giving  motion  to  battery  line  shaft 
by  means  of  four  two-inch  hemp  ropes; 

One  four-foot  Pelton  wheel,  giving  motion  to  rock  breaker 
counter-shaft  by  one  5|--inch  wire  rope ; 

One  three- foot  wheel  of  the  same  pattern,  giving  motion  to 
concentrator  counter-shaft  by  one  1^-inch  hemp  rope; 

One  six-foot  Pelton,  driving  14  inches  by  24  inches  duplex 
compressors  by  four  2-inch  hemp  ropes  with  sheaves  of  different 
diameters  for  changing  the  speed. 

The  water-wheels  driving  the  batteries  and  concentrator 
counter-shaft  are  each  provided  with  hydraulic  governors  that 
are  so  necessary  in  securing  the  uniform  operation  required  for 
efficient  stamp  mill  and  concentration  work.  Revolution  coun- 
ters are  attached  to  the  batteries  and  concentrators,  and  a  hy- 
draulic pressure  gauge  indicates  the  variations  of  pressure  in  the 
pipes. 

The  necessary  mill  water  is  drawn  from  a  tank  on  the  bridge 


84  PAPERS   FROM  THE  NOTES   OF  AN   ENGINEER. 

level.  The  water  from  the  tail  race  in  the  hoisting-works  is 
lifted  to  this  tank  by  a  centrifugal  pump  and  heated  to  a  tem- 
perature of  about  100  degrees  by  the  introduction  of  a  jet  of 
steam  from  the  boiler.  From  the  tank,  a  4-inch  pipe  leads  the 
water  to  the  mill,  where  it  is  distributed  by  a  series  of  smaller 
pipes  and  valves  to  the  batteries,  concentrators,  and  clean-up  ma- 
chines. The  roofs  of  the  buildings  are  covered  with  corrugated 
iron  plates  and  with  a  number  of  2^-inch  fire  hydrants,  thus  af- 
fording an  excellent  protection  against  fire. 


VII. 
ANOTHER  CONCENTRATOR* 

THE  process  of  ore-dressing  or  mechanical  concentration,  in 
the  United  States,  is  gradually  reaching  proportions  only  com- 
parable in  economic  importance  with  the  scale  of  operation  and 
perfection  of  that  art  in  almost  all  of  the  great  mining  regions 
of  European  countries. 

Until  within  the  past  four  or  five  years,  the  receiving-floors  of 
sampling,  milling,  and  smelting-works  in  the  West  have  been 
stored  almost  exclusively  with  raw  ores,  coming  directly  from 
the  mines,  where  waste-dumps  were  accumulated,  rich  in  the 
lower  grades  of  mineral  ill-adapted  in  the  natural  state  to  profit- 
able transportation  and  metallurgical  treatment. 

But  of  late  years,  the  products  of  concentration  make  up  a 
formidable  proportion,  sometimes  the  bulk,  of  the  smelters'  ore 
supply;  and  the  reduction-works  at  Leadville,  Denver,  Pueblo, 
Durango,  Omaha,  Salt  Lake,  Wood  River,  and  other  metallurgi- 
cal centers  are  now  filled  with  the  "  concentrates  "  of  ore-dress- 
ing mills,  testifying  to  a  greatly  increased  efficiency  in  the  ex- 
ploitation and  turning  to  profit  of  ore-deposits.  Indeed,  the 
maintenance  of  many  lucrative  mining  operations  in  such  thriv- 
ing districts  as  Leadville,  San  Juan,  and  Wood  River  is  solely 
dependent  upon  the  successful  dressing  of  the  lower  grades  of 
ore,  which  fact  of  itself  goes  to  prove  the  growing  importance 
of  that  branch  of  mining  engineering. 

But  before  we  shall  have  completely  attained  in  American 
mining  the  thoroughness  and  technical  completeness  character- 
istic of  the  industry  in  the  old  country,  a  broader  appreciation 
must  be  had  of  the  benefits  to  be  derived  from  an  extensive  ap- 
plication of  concentration,  carried  to  a  finer  degree  of  economy 

*  From  The  Engineering  and  Mining  Journal,  New  York,  August 

28,  1886. 


86  PAPERS   FROM  THE  NOTES   OF  AN   ENGINEER. 

in  point  of  a  more  general  dressing  of  sands,  coarse  pulps,  and 
slimes,  which  are  too  often  inefficiently  treated  or  allowed  to  go 
to  waste. 

The  process  of  concentration,  sometimes  ultra-expertly  termed 
"dynamical  metallurgy,"  has  been  vaguely  construed  and  im- 
perfectly understood  in  certain  mineral  regions  of  the  West. 
This  is,  perhaps,  in  large  measure,  owing  to  the  perplexity  grow- 
ing out  of  the  fact  that  concentration  belongs  among  the  arts  in 
which  practical  experiences  often  differ  materially  from  the  theo- 
retical results  of  complicated  computations  developed  under  as- 
sumed ideal  conditions ;  and  on  this  account  it  is  highly  prob- 
able that,  among  the  branches  that  command  the  attention  of 
the  specialists  in  the  profession,  there  is  none  requiring  so  com- 
plete an  understanding  of  both  the  theory  and  practice,  and  a 
familiarity  with  the  business  conditions  involved  in  the  various- 
problems  at  issue,  as  does  the  concentration  of  ores.  And  wrhile 
the  value  of  the  theoretical  studies  is  not  intended  to  be  under- 
rated, yet  it  is  evident  that  if  the  ore-dressing  specialist  cannot 
be  expert  in  all  three  requirements,  he  may  better  sacrifice  the 
higher  mathematical  knowledge  of  the  behavior  of  different  sub- 
stances in  various  mediums,  under  variable  conditions,  than  be 
deficient  in  the  experience  and  practical  business  sense  necessary 
to  a  successful  solution  of  the  problems  coming  within  the  prov 
i nee  of  the  art. 

Ores  are  not  infrequently  met  with  in  which  the  specific  gravi- 
ties of  the  valuable  and  worthless  ingredients,  although  favor- 
able to  a  fairly  good  separation,  act,  on  account  of  other  phys- 
ical peculiarities,  so  nearly  alike,  subjected  to  mechanical  treat- 
ment, that  separation  is  rendered  practically  impossible.  Hence 
the  necessity  for  exhaustive  experimentation  as  a  preliminary  in 
deciding  upon  the  concentration  properties  of  an  ore. 

However,  not  alone  a  neglect  in  making  such  preliminary 
tests  is  the  cause  of  many  of  the  failures  of  concentration 
schemes ;  for  it  has  happened  that  all  the  laboratory  work  has 
been  carefully  done  and  the  plant  properly  appointed  ;  but  alas  t 
a  thorough  mining  examination  was  not  undertaken,  and,  after 
a  few  days'  run,  the  source  of  the  ore  supply  has  proved  inade- 
quate to  the  capacity  of  the  mill,  and  the  prime  requisite  to  the 
success  of  a  formidable  concentration  enterprise  is  found  want- 


ANOTHER   CONCENTRATOR. 


87 


ing,  namely,  large  masses  of  suitable  low-grade  ore  exploitable 
at  a  cost  sufficiently  below  its  net  metal  value  to  leave  a  margin 
for  profit  over  and  above  the  expense  of  hauling,  dressing,  and 
the  unusually  heavy  losses  involved  in  the  mechanical  process,  be- 


Pfy.l. 


THE  CORNING  CONCENTRATOR. 

sides  the  pro  rata  cost  of  transportation  and  treatment  of  the 
concentrates  according  to  the  concentration  proportion  attain- 
able. 

The  investigation  of  this  fundamental  requirement  is  quite  as 
much  a  matter  for  underground  inspection  and  mining  judg- 


PAPERS  FROM  THE  NOTES  OF  AN  ENGINEER. 

ment  as  it  is  a  question  demanding  the  subjection  of  the  ore  to 
panning  and  other  decisive  tests  ;  and  as  a  general  rule,  which, 
truth  to  tell,  is  too  little  adhered  to  by  enthusiastic  Eastern  com- 
panies, the  erection  of  costly  plants  should  invariably  be  pre- 
ceded by  satisfactory  developments  insuring  a  constant  ore  sup- 


Among  the  conditions  under  which  Western  mines  are  opera- 
ted, in  mountainous  and  somewhat  inaccessible  localities,  the  ex- 
pense of  transportation  is  an  important  item  in  swelling  the 
cost  of  production.  And  in  such  districts,  other  things  being 
favorable,  the  chief  advantage  of  dressing  is  to  be  looked  for  in 
the  saving  of  freight  consequent  upon  effecting  a  certain  con- 
centration proportion  of  the  valuable  metallic  constituents. 
Here  it  may  be  mentioned  that  the  disasters  of  custom  ore- 
dressing  works  are  frequently  to  be  traced  to  the  placing  of  mills 
at  points,  perhaps  central  as  far  as  accessible  situation  goes,  but 
at  such  distances  from  the  mines  that  yield  the  bulk  of  the  min- 
eral that  the  cost  of  hauling  the  raw  ore  to  the  works  is  just 
heavy  enough  to  absorb  all  the  protit  of  the  process  and  defeat 
the  main  object  of  mechanical  treatment.  Owing  to  this  mis- 
take and  to  the  unsuitable,  scattered  occurrence  of  low-grade 
mines  in  one  and  the  same  district,  custom  concentration,  gener- 
ally speaking,  has  not  proved  very  successful. 

The  most  difficult  part  of  ore-dressing  is  notably  the  washing 
of  the  sands,  coarse  pulps,  and  slimes.  The  processes  followed 
in  the  mechanical  treatment  of  these  fine  products  involve  at 
once  a  disproportionate  amount  of  time,  trouble,  expense,  and 
loss,  besides  an  intricacy  of  management,  as  compared  with  the 
concentration  stages  of  coarser-grained  material. 

The  realization  of  these  complexities  and  of  the  imperfections 
attending  the  treatment  of  the  pulverized  products,  which  sug- 
gest the  necessity  for  improvements  in  the  automatic  action 
and  capacity  of  buddies,  percussion-tables,  and  vanning  machines 
with  the  object  of  increasing  the  purity  and  efficiency  of  pulp- 
washing,  is  evidenced  by  the  many  machines  and  devices  toward 
the  patenting  and  introduction  of  which  inventors  are  directing 
their  efforts. 

The  vanning  principle,  in  its  various  modifications,  has  ap- 
parently predominated,  and  earned  the  most  important  position 


ANOTHER   CONCENTRATOR.  89 

in  the  United  States  among  the  machines  that  handle  crushed 
products  below  a  fineness  suitable  for  concentration  on  jigs. 

Although  it  must  be  acknowledged,  practically  if  not  theo- 
retically, that  a  complete  separation  cannot  be  continuously  pro- 
duced in  one  operation  (for,  in  attempting  to  make  pure  "  head- 
ing concentrates"  free  from  the  worthless  gangue  material, 
"  tailings"  there  will  always  be  a  transitional  zone  of  intermedi- 
ate richness,  "  middlings  ":  and  in  general  any  attempt  to  elimi- 
nate the  latter  product  will  result  in  either  making  lean  head- 
ings or  rich  tailings]^  still  the  most  popular  of  the  modern 
dressing-tables  have  in  view  the  effecting  of  a  perfect,  continu- 
ous separation,  that  is,  to  do  clean  work  with  a  minimum  loss ; 
and  in  the  construction  and  operation  of  such  vanners,  little  or 
no  account  has  heretofore  been  taken  or  provision  made  for  the 
middling  grades  of  material. 

The  concentrator  that  is  the  subject  of  this  article,  recently 
patented  by  the  writer,  not  only  separates  the  heavy  and  valu- 
able metalliferous  particles  contained  in  ore  pulp  and  mill  tail- 
ings from  the  gangue  or  waste  material,  which  is  the  light  and 
worthless  portion,  but  the  concentration  is  carried  to  a  finer 
grade  of  perfection  in  that  the  machine  also  effects  a  separation 
of  the  several  kinds  of  valuable  ore  particles  into  different 
classes,  according  to  the  metalliferous-mineralogical  constituency 
of  the  ore  under  treatment. 

The  peculiar  advantages  derived  from  the  operation  of  this 
machine  are  the  following  : 

1st.  Middling  products  can  be  made. 

2d.  Such  intermediate  or  transitional  zones  can  be  regulated 
as  may  appear  necessary  to  preserve  the  purity  of  the  headings 
and  the  leanness  of  the  tailings. 

3d.  The  middlings  from  these  machines  can  be  continuously 
and  automatically  drawn  off  and  subjected  jointly  to  another 
dressing  on  a  "  middling "  vanner,  to  extract  the  remaining 
valuable  product,  from  which  second  operation  the  tailings  and 
middlings  will  be  sufficiently  impoverished  to  be  thrown  away. 

4th.  The  subdivision  produced  by  this  vanner,  in  certain  zinc 
and  pyritous  ores,  renders  the  compositions  of  the  several  classes 
of  concentrates  better  adapted  to  subsequent  metallurgical  treat- 
ment. 

6 


90     PAPERS  FROM  THE  NOTES  OF  AN  ENGINEER. 

In  ore-dressing  parlance,  this  machine  might  be  termed  a 
Rittinger  side-percussion  vanner.  Its  superiority  over  the  old 
Rittinger  table  consists  in  the  banded  shape  of  the  apron,  name- 
ly, the  shortness  of  the  table,  measured  in  the  direction  of  the  in- 
cline, which  is  made  possible  to  use  under  the  peculiar  order  of 
arrangement  and  combinations  of  the  machine.  By  means  of 
the  movement  imparted  to  the  pulp  particles  by  the  traveling 
belt,  in  addition  to  the  forward  propulsion  characteristic  of  the 
Rittinger  percussion,  the  parabolic  zones  are  elongated  and  their 
respective  discharges  from  the  table  are  more  easily  regulated 
by  variable  quantities  of  clarifying  water  led  on  to  the  apron 
in  flows  of  varying  width  and  power.  These  ore  parabolas  on 
the  old  Rittinger  table,  with  fixed,  solid  bottom  instead  of  a 
comparatively  narrow  belt,  whose  line  of  travel  is  horizontal  as 
peculiar  to  the  machine  in  point,  are  more  closely  crowded  to- 
gether ;  and  from  their  shape  and  narrow  course  down  the  table, 
with  only  small  diversion  from  the  line  of  the  table's  dip,  these 
parabolic  stripes  are  exceedingly  sensitive  and  easily  diverted 
from  their  normal  paths  by  slight  irregularities  in  feeding  and  in 
the  pulp  composition. 

The  modification  of  these  features  and  the  more  advantageous 
drawing  out  of  the  pulp  are  among  the  distinguishing  marks  of 
this  concentrator. 

Fig.  1  is  a  plan  view  of  my  vanner,  showing  the  parabolic 
curves  formed  on  the  traveling  apron  or  belt  by  the  particles  of 
the  ore-pulp  fed  thereon  and  separated  in  the  order  of  their 
specific  gravities  during  the  progress  of  concentration  and  sepa- 
ration, fig.  3  is  a  plan  view  of  this  side-percussion  vanner, 
showing  the  rollers  over  which  the  traveling  apron  is  carried 
and  also  the  roller  for  tightening  the  same.  Fig.  4  is  a  cross  or 
end  view  showing  the  lateral  inclination  of  the  belt  with  a  pulp- 
mixer. 

In  the  preliminary  working  out  of  this  machine,  which  was 
experimented  upon  by  the  writer  for  a  long  time  prior  to  its 
publication  in  patent  form,  a  very  complex  ore  in  one  of  the 
celebrated  mining  districts  of  Europe,  consisting  of  galena, 
arsenical  pyrites,  iron  pyrites,  and  zinc-blende,  with  a  quartzose, 
calc,  and  fluor-spar  gangue,  was  successfully  worked. 

The  pulp  from  this  ore,  which  passed  through  a  one  mm. 


ANOTHER   CONCENTRATOR.  91 

starnp-battery  screen,  was  first  graded  into  five  classes  in  an  as- 
cending stream  classificator.  The  first  class,  or  coarsest  pulp, 
was  worked  on  a  continuous  four-compartment  jig,  while  the 
remaining  classes  of  the  pulp  were  dressed  on  plain,  longi- 
tudinal percussion-tables  involving  much  hand-labor  and  many 
wrashings  before  a  marketable  product  was  produced.  The  di- 
version from  these  percussion-tables  and  the  treatment  of  the 
second,  third,  fourth,  and  fifth  divisions  of  the  pulp  on  my  ma- 
chine gave,  continuously,  pure  market  products,  corresponding 
to  the  grades  of  concentrates  produced  by  the  automatic  jigging 
of  class  ISTo.  1,  referred  to  above. 

The  extreme  delicacy  of  this  concentrator,  and  the  striking 
perfection  with  which  the  comparatively  speaking  infinitesimal 
amounts  of  the  different  minerals  were  actually  made  to  walk 
out  from  the  impure  pulp  mass,  were  thoroughly  proved,  and 
should  insure  a  successful  future  for  this  machine. 


VIII. 

UNPROFESSIONAL  OFFICE  AND  LABORATORY 
MINING  REPORTS* 

A  PRACTICE  injurious  to  the  mining  engineering  profession, 
or,  more  collectively  expressed,  to  all  those  professing  to  be 
mining  engineers,  has  long  existed  in  the  United  States. 

Not  to  become  too  personal,  some  recent  manifestations  of 
these  malpractices  have  appeared  in  various  forms  in  our  Eastern 
cities,  which  deserve  to  be  strongly  denounced  through  the  in- 
teresting and  influential  columns  of  your  valuable  journal.  This 
frequently  recurring  evil  consists  substantially  in  the  writing  of 
reports  and  indorsements  of  mining  and  metallurgical  proper- 
ties and  ventures,  based,  not  on  direct  personal  investigation  of 
fact  in  the  field,  but  on  such  indirect,  incidental  evidence  as 
hearsay  reports,  designing  correspondence,  friendly  corrobora- 
tion  of  represented  facts,  census  statistics,  specimen  assays,  etc. 

All  these  sources  of  information,  not  to  speak  of  being  gen- 
erally unreliable  and  misleading,  are  at  the  most  only  of  second- 
ary importance  as  compared  with  conscientious,  expert  sam- 
pling, surveying,  thorough  investigation  of  the  actual  qualitative 
and  quantitative  ore  occurrence,  conditions  of  commercial  situa- 
tion and  all  other  essential  economic  features  which  are  only  to 
be  ascertained  on  the  ground  and  capable  of  being  judged  in 
their  bearing  on  the  questions  at  issue,  after  careful  detailed 
inspection  and  weighing,  from  a  business  and  expert  point  of 
view. 

During  periods  of  prosperity  when  a  better,  or  at  least  a  more 
charitable,  feeling  toward  mining  operations  prevails  in  business 
circles,  and  the  failures  and  disappointments  so  frequently  at- 
tached to  ventures  of  this  class  begin  to  be  forgotten,  the  public, 

*  From  The  Financial  and  Mining  Record,  New  York,  July  10, 1886. 


UNPROFESSIONAL   REPORTS.  93 

waking  up  to  the  money-making  inducements  afforded  by  legiti- 
mate mining,  and  considering  the  numerous  schemes  which  are 
at  short  notice  created  to  meet  the  first  indication  of  a  revival 
of  the  speculative  interest,  are  at  once  confronted  with  document- 
ary recommendations  of  this  worthless  kind.  And  strange  to 
say,  these  so-called  "  Reports  "  are  over  the  signatures,  not  alone 
of  men  of  pretended  engineering  qualifications ;  but  the  names 
of  well-known  assayers,  chemists,  metallurgical  and  mining  en- 
gineers, who  might  naturally  be  expected  to  have  reputations  at 
stake,  are  sometimes  found  as  willing  expert  indorsers. 

Whether  intentional  or  not,  the  style  in  which  such  documents 
are  written,  is  calculated  to  deceive  the  casual  reader  into  believ- 
ing that  the  writer  is  submitting  a  verdict  based  upon  individual 
examination  and  experience,  i.  e.,  an  unbiased,  final,  and  authori- 
tative judgment  to  the  best  of  his'  professional  ability. 

The  superficiality  of  such  reports  is  often  so  daringly  disguised 
that  there  is  not  even  a  slight  reference  to  the  source  of  the  in- 
formation, much  less  an  admission  of  inadequate  evidence  on  cer- 
tain salient  points.  Indeed,  the  wording  is  so  cleverly  arranged 
that  the  detection  of  their  true  character  and  worthlessness  is 
difficult  even  to  other  engineers  subjecting  the  documents  to 
close  analysis.  Everything  is  stated  in  most  positive  language, 
and  no  encumbering  "  ifs  "  or  conditional  clauses  are  allowed  to 
enter  in  to  weaken  the  style  and  force  of  these  convincing  reports. 

While  the  casual  observer,  however,  may  not  detect  their 
emptiness,  a  second  reading  by  one  on  the  alert  discloses  the  fact 
that  the  author  is  only  giving  the  gist  of  some  one  else's  pre- 
tended belief,  and  as  a  matter  of  fact,  has  not  thoroughly  investi- 
gated into  the  conditions  of  the  case  under  discussion,  but  merely 
indorses  blindly  a  second  party's  opinion  who,  by  the  way,  has 
almost  always  a  pecuniary  interest  in  the  ultimate  results  gained 
by  his  "  expert's  affidavit." 

It  is  self-evident  that  the  great  defect  in  this  kind  of  office 
work  is  the  fact  that  the  element  of  individual  mining  and  busi- 
ness judgment,  which  should  be  the  pith  and  main  object  of  a 
professional  report,  is  almost  wholly  excluded  from  opinions  ren- 
dered under  these  circumstances.  It  naturally  follows,  however 
plausible  the  tenor  of  the  document,  that  owing  to  the  uncer- 
tainty of  the  accepted  premises,  the  recommendations  will  be 


94     PAPERS  FROM  THE  NOTES  OF  AN  ENGINEER. 

one-sided   and  theoretical  —  worthless   as   a   decisive  basis  for 
action. 

Now  in  regard  to  exporting  and  what  is  ordinarily  meant  by 
that  much-abused  term,  no  claim  is  made  to  clairvoyance  and 
kindred  fanciful  accomplishments,  sometimes  erroneously  claimed 
by,  and  more  commonly  expected  of,  the  profession.  But  it  is 
firmly  believed,  whatever  be  the  proper  appellation,  that  there 
is  such  a  thing  as  successful  discrimination  and  choice  in  the 
recommendation  of  mining  properties  and  metallurgical  projects  ; 
and  moreover,  other  things  being  equal,  that  the  best  judgment 
to  follow  as  a  guide  for  the  promotion  and  prosecution  of  such 
industries  is  that  of  a  man  educated  in  the  scientific  branches  in- 
volved in  the  finding,  exploitation,  and  treatment  of  ores,  bal- 
anced and  rounded  off  with  business  and  professional  experience 
in  the  field.  With  honesty  and  the  ordinary  amount  of  natural 
adaptation  and  talent  necessary  to  achieve  success  in  other  de- 
partments of  professional  life,  the  work  of  the  expert  mining 
engineer  is  entitled  to  a  high  position  of  authority,  and  is  just  as 
valuable  and  safe  to  follow  as  is  the  advice  governing  the  ventures 
and  operations  in  other  lines  of  industry. 

It  is  not  denied  that  in  consulting  practice,  questions  will  be 
asked  and  information  must  be  given  concerning  certain  import- 
ant points,  forming  part  of  the  main  problem ;  but  the  adviser 
in  such  cases  should  be  cautious  in  committing  himself,  and  not 
be  deluded  into  twisting  and  broadening  his  work  to  an  unwar- 
ranted limit,  merely  to  further  the  ends  of  his  enthusiastic  client. 

The  intensely  speculative  character  of  the  people  by  whom 
mining  engineers  are  often  employed,  brings  to  bear  many  influ- 
ences to  warp  professional  judgment.  And  it  behooves  engineers 
to  guard  against  such  a  disposition  on  the  part  of  promoting  em- 
ployers ;  and  in  avoiding  the  pernicious  phases  of  expert  work, 
the  profession  will  become  elevated  to  the  dignity  becoming  its 
importance  and  requirements  in  point  of  capacity,  training,  and 
education. 


IX. 


THE   CHOICE  AND   LEGITIMATE   OPERATION   OF 

MINES.* 

IN  replying  to  "  Subscriber's "  request  for  some  enlighten- 
ment on  the  question  of  selecting  mining  property  and  the  possi- 
bility of  profitably  operating  desirable  mines  on  legitimate  prin- 
ciples, I  take  pleasure  in  supplementing  my  last  communication 
with  the  following  brief  remarks : 

The  consideration  of  this  subject  is  especially  appropriate  in 
relation  to  mines  of  the  precious  metals  which,  for  the  most 
part,  are  made  the  bases  for  the  irregularities  and  abusive  specu- 
lative transactions  which  so  frequently  cloud  the  mining  indus- 
try of  the  United  States ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  opera- 
tions of  coal,  iron,  and  copper  properties  have,  generally  speak- 
ing, long  since  settled  down  into  comparatively  steady  enter- 
prises, and  are  no  more  questioned  as  to  their  legitimacy  or 
classed  among  the  so-called  "  extremely  hazardous  gambles." 

But  it  should  be  noted  that  the  exhaustive  discussion  of  these 
questions  might  properly  constitute  the  subject  for  an  entire 
volume,  for  the  publication  of  which  it  is  not  to  be  presumed 
your  valuable  journal  could  allow  the  necessary  space.  Such 
elaborate  treatment  would  involve  at  once  a  review  of  precious- 
metal  mining  in  the  United  States,  and  would  also  embrace  a 
somewhat  comprehensive  synopsis  of  mineral  deposits  and  vein 
phenomena,  in  their  bearing  on  economic  mining — more  espe- 
cially with  respect  to  the  influences  of  such  natural  conditions 
on  the  business  chances  of  mining  ventures. 

A  mere  cursory  analysis,  however,  of  the  records,  facts,  and 
ultimate  issues  of  various  mining  operations,  from  the  stand- 
point of  their  pertinency  to  the  theme  under  discussion,  leads 

*  From  The  Financial  and  Mining  Record,  New  York,  July  24  and 
31,  1886. 


96  PAPERS   FROM   THE  NOTES   OF   AN   ENGINEER. 

undeniably  to  the  conclusion  that  the  accumulated  data  of  ex- 
perience in  the  United  States,  from  the  early  working  of  the 
famous  Comstock  lode  in  Nevada  down  to  the  present  time, 
constitute  a  store  of  practical  field  knowledge  inestimably  valu- 
able to  those  administering  the  gold,  silver,  and  lead  interests  of 
the  Western  States  and  Territories,  in  furthering  the  accuracy 
of  professional  decisions  upon  the  numerous  questions  pertaining 
to  the  degrees  of  valuation  to  be  placed  on  mineral  properties 
during  progressive  stages  of  their  development. 

On  the  other  hand,  mines  that  pay  to  work  are  characterized 
by  certain  favorable  features  in  the  qualitative  and  quantitative 
mineral  occurrences,  in  the  distribution  and  continuity  of  ore 
bodies,  proportion  of  stoping  ground  to  barren  vein  matter,  de- 
gree of  profit  yield  or  the  credit  balance  under  a  given  scale  of 
operation, — i.  e.,  with  the  maintenance  of  a  fair,  healthy  propor- 
tion between  dead  work  and  stoping  ground, — the  returns  left 
after  deducting  the  total  expenditure  and  interest  involved  in 
such  exploratory  development  work  and  exploitation  from  the 
revenue  accruing  from  the  ore  or  bullion  production,  are  a  crite- 
rion of  the  remunerative  capacity  of  the  property  under  the  pe- 
culiarities and  conditions  of  location.  And  on  the  other  hand, 
the  characteristics  of  unremunerative  properties,  considered  as  a 
whole,  are  equally  pronounced  to  the  educated  engineer  of 
capacity  and  experience,  the  chief  distinguishing  mark  being 
generally  the  absence  of  all  the  principal  features  essential  to 
pay  mines ;  and  if  such  qualities  are  not  totally  missing  they  are, 
at  most,  present  in  a  very  weak,  indefinite,  and  unsatisfactory 
degree,  precluding,  if  not  the  possibility,  at  all  events  the  busi- 
ness probability,  of  paying. 

It  is  not  claimed  that  the  dividing  line  between  these  two  ex- 
treme groups  of  mines  is  sharply  defined  ;  nor  is  it  denied  that 
there  is  a  gradual  transition  or  merging  into  one  another  of  the 
economic  and  uneconomic  features ;  for,  broadly  speaking,  Na- 
ture has  created  mineral  deposits  of  all  degrees  of  worthlessness 
and  profitableness. 

But  to  the  intelligent  capitalist,  who  operates  on  conservative 
principles  and  avoids  dealing  with  mere  mineral  indications  and 
other  prospects  of  uncertain  character,  a  classification  of  mines 
into  three  kinds  presents  itself,  namely : 


CHOICE   AND   LEGITIMATE   OPEKATION   OF   MINES.         97 

1.  Pay  Mines  of  determined  character  and  computable  value. 

2.  Transitional  Mines,  in  an  unrenmnerative  condition,  but 
bidding  fair  to  develop  into  paying  properties. 

3.  Undeveloped  Miscellaneous  Claims  and  Prospects  of  un- 
economical nature. 

The  first  of  these  divisions  comprises  only  rare  exceptions, 
while  classes  2  and  3  include  the  bulk  of  all  mineral  discoveries 
and  claims ;  and  their  indiscriminate,  blind  development  on  ex- 
aggerated representations  largely  for  speculative  purposes,  has 
caused  the  frequent  lamentable  losses  and  disappointments  in 
mining  enterprises. 

But  infallible  success  can  no  more  be  expected  of  mining  than 
in  other  lines  of  industry  ;  for  in  the  same  measure  that  Nature 
has  irregularly,  and,  it  must  be  acknowledged,  somewhat  disap- 
pointingly, distributed  ore  bodies  of  variable  grades  and  dimen- 
sions, there  will  be  in  mining  ventures,  even  when  conducted 
under  fairly  favorable  auspices,  corresponding  uncertainties  and 
failures.  While,  therefore,  the  masses  during  periods  of  infla- 
tion and  wild  speculation  on  the  apex  of  a  cycle  of  prosperity 
must  necessarily  lose,  as  will  also  be  the  experience  in  all  lines 
of  industry  for  those  "buying  in  recklessly  at  the  top,"  never- 
theless, the  efforts  of  corporations  equipped  with  an  honest,  able 
guidance,  can  meet  with  success,  if  operating  alone  with  first- 
class  mines;  and  under  these  circumstances,  the  capitalist  will  be 
found  to  win  in  the  average  of  his  ventures  and  reap  a  profit, 
if  not  on  the  par  capitalization  of  his  company,  at  least  on  the 
actual  cash  investment,  far  greater  and  less  hampered  by  the  in- 
fluences of  competition  than  in  any  other  business. 

This  selfish  policy  of  only  choosing  the  "  cream  "  in  mining, 
it  may  be  argued,  would  lead  to  a  dangerous  stagnation  in  the 
development  of  the  country's  mineral  resources ;  and  in  conse- 
q_uence  of  such  a  serious  limitation,  many  good  mines  would  go 
undiscovered  for  want  of  the  co-operation  of  capitalists  in  sus- 
taining vigorous  prospecting.  To  this  it  may  be  replied  that 
the  intoxicating  fascination,  almost  inseparably  associated  with 
mining,  will,  in  a  country  like  our  own,  whose  people  are  fairly 
saturated  with  speculative  enthusiasm  to  the  extent  of  being  nat- 
ural risk-takers,  always  prove  an  irresistible  attraction  to  vision- 
ary people  who,  with  a  superficial  knowledge  of  mining  and  an 


98     PAPERS  FROM  THE  NOTES  OF  AN  ENGINEER. 

erroneous  conception  of  the  real  nature  of  a  "  mining  risk,"  will 
spend  their  time  and  money  romancing  through  the  mountains 
and  "  assessment  holes  "  in  search  of  the  inuch-dreamed-of  Bo- 
nanza mines.  These  prospectors  are  a  good-natured,  warm- 
hearted class  of  mining  adventurers ;  but  in  face  of  the  fact  that 
only  in  very  rare  instances  are  their  efforts  crowned  with  finan- 
cial success,  it  is  self-evident  that  a  most  imaginative,  sanguine 
temperament  is  necessary  as  an  incentive  to  such  a  vocation. 
And  after  much  weary  labor  and  repeated  disappointments  in 
"hunting  for  a  lead,"  serious  disputes,  conflicts  of  title,  and  not 
infrequently  the  total  expenditure  of  hard-earned  savings,  the 
prospector,  with  his  restless,  roving  disposition,  is  wont  to  be- 
come discouraged,  sometimes  when  his  claim  is  on  the  point  of 
developing  into  a  property  of  merit. 

This  crisis  in  the  affairs  of  the  discoverer  and  early  worker  of 
mineral  claims,  is  the  most  propitious  time  for  the  entrance  of 
capital  into  the  field  of  mining,  because  the  primary  risks  having 
already  been  taken  by  the  original  owner,  and  "  generous  "  ore 
exposures  of  profitable  grade  and  dimensions  having  been  "put 
in  sight,"  it  is  a  matter  of  common  mining  experience  that  such 
a  valuable  find  has  much  better  chances  of  continuing  good  and 
even  improving,  than  a  poor  showing  has  of  ever  opening  out 
into  a  paying  mine.  And  at  such  a  period  the  prospector,  who 
has  not  the  means,  skill,  and  executive  ability  to  conduct  syste- 
matic operations  under  organized  labor,  can  be  treated  with  on 
terms  favorable  to  both  seller  and  purchaser. 

How,  then,  is  it  that  so  much  money  has  been  lost  in  mining? 

In  answering  this  query,  many  unprofitable  expenditures  may 
be  traced  to  one  of  the  following  sources:  First  and  foremost, 
the  inevitable  losses ;  these  are  inherent  in  the  nature  of  the 
mining  business  and  are  largely  to  be  accounted  for  in  the  extreme 
phases  of  the  eccentricities  and  irregularities  of  mineral  deposits, 
such  as  faults,  unexpected  limitations  of  ore  chutes,  pinching, 
treacherous  occurrence  of  the  pay  ore,  pockety  formations,  etc. 
The  latter  class  of  anomalous  deposits  includes  a  great  variety 
of  mines,  among  which  are  found  some  of  the  most  noted  per- 
manent and  profitable  properties  in  the  history  of  the  industry  ; 
although,  as  a  whole,  enterprises  based  on  the  working  of  a 
pocket  property,  as  ordinarily  understood,  are  wanting  in  con- 
tinuity and  have  generally  resulted  disastrously. 


CHOICE  AND   LEGITIMATE  OPERATION   OF  MINES.        99 

The  more  conspicuously  successful  of  these  irregular  pockets 
or  so-called  abnormal  mines,  however,  are  distinguished  for  a 
bonanza  form  of  ore  occurrence,  consisting  either  of  one  body  of 
unusually  large  dimensions,  or  they  are  made  up  of  a  continuous 
chain  of  pockets  and  ore  chambers  more  or  less  connected  and 
traceable  by  lode  material  and  stringers  along  a  certain  geologi- 
cal plane  or  mineralized  zone.  The  Leadville  and  Eureka  de- 
posits may  be  cited  as  types  of  this  more  regular  and  reliable 
class  of  pocket  mines. 

The  undesirable  variety  of  irregular  properties,  the  working 
of  which  has  caused  many  of  the  notorious  losses  connected  with 
this  group,  consists  of  those  deposits  which  are  made  up  of  ore 
bodies  of  limited  extent  occurring  almost  entirely  disconnected 
with  one  another,  or  totally  isolated ;  and  in  these  mines  the 
discovery  of  new  ore-reserves  is  a  pure  gamble,  with  the  chances 
against  the  miner,  as  there  is  no  lead  or  other  indication  to  fol- 
low as  a  guide  to  new  ore  ground. 

But  a  second  and  most  prolific  source  of  disappointments  and 
losses  in  the  ventures  of  mining  companies  is  to  be  looked  for  in 
what  may  be  termed  the  inexcusable  or  avoidable  causes.  Here 
may  be  mentioned  the  purchase  and  working  of  uneconomical 
properties,  under  inferior  advice  and  poor  mining  judgment ; 
also  the  conducting  of  mining  operations  on  bad  financial  princi- 
ples, over-capitalized  and  in  efficiently  managed. 

Every  engineer  and  experienced  mining  operator  knows  that 
for  years  past  the  Eastern  markets  have  been  deluged  with  pros- 
pectus reports  of  properties  which  never  warranted  the  attention 
of  capitalists,  much  less  being  incorporated  into  companies  of 
heavy  capitalization  under  the  guise  of  valuable  mines.  In  in- 
numerable cases  groups  of  such  mines  (so-called),  while  hardly 
meriting  the  risk  of  further  expenditure  in  their  development, 
are  not  even  entitled  to  the  rank  of  fairly  promising  prospects. 

It  is  one  thing  to  open  a  prospact  in  an  inexpensive  way  to 
the  extent  of  a  few  thousand  dollars,  but  quite  a  different  busi- 
ness venture  to  work  the  same  property  under  an  expensive  sys- 
tem involved  in  a  corporate  scale  of  operations.  The  first  case 
may  not  result  in  material  losses  or  great  disappointment,  because 
the  "  prospect  risk  "  is  fully  understood  ;  but  in  the  latter  case 
the  community  at  large  suffers  serious  financial  losses  combined 


100          PAPERS   FROM   THE  NOTES   OF  AN   ENGINEER. 

with  dissatisfaction  and  a  general  cry  against  mining.  Claims 
of  this  kind  should  not  be  presented  to  capitalists  or  placed  on 
Eastern  markets  as  "  mines."  In  any  event,  if  worked  under 
corporate  management,  the  risk  attached  to  their  development 
should  be  thoroughly  understood  to  be  a  prospect  chance  and 
not  a  mining  venture  in  the  best  sense,  while  the  capitalization 
under  which  they  are  incorporated  should  be  reduced  to  a 
minimum. 

The  method  followed  in  promoting  mining  companies  is  also 
to  a  considerable  extent  responsible  for  many  of  the  mistakes 
and  failures  in  the  prosecution  of  mining  enterprises.  The  pol- 
icy of  the  management  is  too  often  controlled  by  motives  of 
personal  interest,  and  the  directors'  efforts  instead  of  inuring  to 
the  benefit  of  their  company,  in  making  ample  provision  for  a 
liberal  working  capital  and  surplus  fund,  are  frequently  directed 
toward  securing  and  disposing  of  bonus  stock. 

It  is  eminently  proper  that  liberal  interests  should  be  allowed 
and  commissions  paid  to  parties  through  whose  facilities  and 
good  judgment  valuable  mining  interests  have  been  acquired  at 
prices  which  render  their  purchase  exceptionally  safe ;  and  for 
similar  reasons,  under  these  circumstances,  it  is  proper  that  a 
mine  should  be  capitalized  at  a  greater  rate  than  the  actual  cash 
price  paid  in  consideration  for  the  property.  Bat  the  promoters' 
commission  interests,  as  well  as  the  stock  capitalization  with  which 
the  property  is  loaded,  should  be  consistent  with  reason  and 
with  the  mine's  value  and  business  probabilities  upon  more  ex- 
tensive development. 

There  is  a  peculiar  obscurity  about  mining  which  cannot  be 
fully  comprehended  or  judged  by  the  public  at  large,  in  the 
same  sense  that  other  industries,  admitting  of  more  thorough 
investigation,  can  be  grasped.  Hence  it  becomes  necessary  that 
promoting  firms  and  syndicates,  who  make  a  specialty  of  the 
business,  shall  be  intrusted  with  the  floating  of  good  mines  and 
with  the  financiering  and  management  of  mining  companies. 
The  position  of  these  firms  and  parties  is  one  of  trust,  and  mutual 
confidence  and  good  faith  should  be  the  foundation  of  their  rela- 
tionship with  the  speculative  class  of  investors. 

The  elimination  of  many  of  the  false  methods  of  incorporation, 
inflation,  and  management,  injurious  to  the  successful  prosecu- 
tion of  mining,  rests  with  the  promoters  to  effect. 


CHOICE  AND   LEGITIMATE   OPERATION   OF   MINES.       101 

But  it  sometimes  happens  that  mines  which  have  proven  fairly 
successful  are  spoken  of  as  "  failures,"  when  in  reality  they  have 
returned  the  entire  purchase  price  and  working  capital  expended 
plus  a  speculative  profit  of,  say,  fifty  per  cent,  or  more  ;  and  as 
there  is,  perhaps,  no  market  for  the  stock,  owing  to  a  temporary 
exhaustion  as  far  as  dividends  are  concerned,  the  ventures  are 
described  as  swindles  by  a  class  of  lambs  who  bought  the  shares 
at  high  prices  during  the  dividend  stage  of  prosperity. 

And  this  leads  to  some  erroneous  conceptions  of  the  nature  of 
mining  dividends  with  which  the  public  mind  is  imbued.  Mines, 
generally  speaking,  are  not  permanently  paying  producers  ;  but 
frequently  the  profit  return  is  so  sudden  and  large  that,  although 
the  dividends  only  extend  over  a  few  years,  their  aggregate 
amounts  to  as  much,  if  not  more,  than  in  certain  lines  of  indus- 
try which  yield  a  smaller  and  more  regular  interest  on  the  money 
invested.  In  so  far,  however,  that  mineral  deposits  are  exhaust- 
ible, and  the  careers  of  mines  are  limited  to  a  variable  number 
of  years,  every  dividend  produced  is  in  reality  the  subtraction  of 
just  so  much  value  from  the  property  ;  and  on  this  account  min- 
ing profits  are  not  to  be  regarded  as  dividends  in  the  ordinary 
manufacturing  and  railroad  acceptance  of  the  term.  We  may, 
therefore,  properly  speaking,  regard  a  mine  as  a  "  big  specimen," 
whose  exploitation  will  yield  a  probable  aggregate  product  which 
may  be  considered  as  a  varying  annuity  lasting  a  certain  number 
of  years.  Graphically  represented,  a  mine's  life  is  something 
after  the  fashion  of  a  crescendo  with  a  corresponding  decres- 
cendo :  At  first  a  small  product,  increasing  to  a  maximum  as  the 
mine  becomes  extensively  developed,  and  finally  decreasing  as 
the  point  of  exhaustion  is  approached.  These  variations  must 
be  allowed  for  and  will  naturally  influence  the  stock  quotations. 
Too  commonly,  however,  no  account  is  taken  of  the  fast  ap- 
proaching decline  in  the  property's  prosperity  ;  and  the  divi- 
dends, though  they  may  have  been  declared  to  the  extent  of 
several  hundred  or  a  thousand  per  cent,  on  the  first  subscription 
price  of  the  stock,  have  been  spent  as  liberally  and  with  as  much 
assurance  of  continuance  as  the  proceeds  from  the  coupons  of 
Government  bonds.  Apparently,  at  the  brightest  moment,  a 
decline  sets  in  which  carries  the  price  of  the  stock,  relatively 
speaking,  out  of  sight.  Dividends  are  spent  and  the  capital 


102          PAPERS   FROM   THE   NOTES    OF   AN   ENGINEER. 

originally  invested  has  disappeared,  and  mines  in  consequence 
are  strongly  denounced. 

To  counteract  this  disparaging  influence  the  stockholder  should 
set  aside  regularly  a  share  of  the  accruing  dividends  to  eventually 
reimburse  himself  to  the  amount  of  his  investment.  Or,  mining 
companies  might,  after  first  devoting  their  earnings  to  the  accu- 
mulation of  a  surplus  fund  for  bridging  over  periods  of  tempo- 
rary exhaustion,  cut  down  their  rate  of  dividends  say  one-third, 
devoting  only  two-thirds  of  the  mine's  earning  capacity  to  stock- 
holders and  depositing  the  remaining  one-third  in  trust  to  be 
eventually  divided  out  pro  rata  on  the  stock  in  amounts  equal  to 
the  original  subscriptions,  so  that  each  certificate  would  carry  a 
right  to  a  share  in  such  a  subscribers'  sinking  fund.  Stripped 
of  all  incumbering  defects  in  the  methods  of  acquiring  and  man- 
aging mines,  by  compassing  exact  facts  through  honest  and  intel- 
ligent investigation  and  the  devotion  of  the  same  careful  atten- 
tion as  is  necessary  in  other  departments  of  business,  mining 
"becomes  a  most  attractive  and  relatively  safe  speculative  pursuit. 

Already  signs  of  improvement  are  discernible.  The  number 
of  mistakes  and  wild-cat  schemes  is  yearly  diminishing ;  at  the 
same  time,  all  divisions  of  the  precious-metal  industries  are  fast 
settling  down  into  legitimate  employments. 

The  West  is  no  longer  dependent  upon  Eastern  resources  for 
the  development  of  its  mineral  lands  to  the  same  extent  as  for- 
merly, as  the  capitalists  of  San  Francisco,  Salt  Lake  City,  Omaha, 
Denver,  Leadville,  and  other  prominent  commercial  centres,  hav- 
ing implicit  faith  in  their  home  industry,  deal  in  mines  at  cash 
prices  and  work  them  liberally  and  intelligently.  The  regular 
profitable  operations  of  many  companies,  never  heard  of  on  the 
Eastern  markets,  attest  the  success  of  Western  ventures,  and 
their  regularly  divided  profits  would  be  a  matter  of  surprise  to 
some  of  our  skeptical  business  men  of  the  East. 

This  steady  progress  and  improvement  at  the  fountain  head, 
practically  uninfluenced  by  long  periods  of  depression  in  general 
trade,  is  bound  to  make  itself  felt  in  the  near  future ;  and  the 
signs  of  the  times  point  to  a  growing  belief  in  the  recognition  of 
mining  in  its  proper  position.  It  is  fair  to  presume  that  in  the 
next  boom  mining  enterprises  will  be  better  thought  of  and  more 
intelligently  conducted  than  has  been  their  reputation  in  the  past. 


CHOICE   AND   LEGITIMATE   OPERATION   OF   MINES.      103 

Since  historic  time  mining  has  never  ceased  to  occupy  an  ex- 
alted position  in  foreign  countries  where  it  has  been  favored 
with  marked  disposition  to  foster  its  interests  in  every  way  ; 
and,  moreover,  those  who  are  officially  identified  with  the  pros- 
ecution of  the  industry  are  envied  in  their  positions  of  trust  and 
authority. 

In  our  rich  and  prosperous  country  the  mineral  resources,  in 
their  vastness  and  adaptation  to  economical  working,  are  in  pro- 
portion to  all  other  natural  advantages  of  this  wonderful  conti- 
nent. And,  being  at  the  disposal  of  an  energetic,  rich,  and  ven- 
turesome people,  there  is  every  reason  why  the  development  of 
the  mining  interests  of  the  United  States  should  rank  among  the 
most  legitimate  and  inviting  pursuits. 


_.P     25     CENTS 
AN    INITIAL    FINE :    <>*     *  ro  RETURN 

OVERDUE. 


OCT   23    1932 


MIA 


REC'D  LD 

FEB  131962 


LD  21 


454637 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


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